TEMPE -- The No. 24/23 Arizona State University softball team will close out the 2015 regular season at home this weekend, hosting the No. 6/7 UCLA Bruins in a three-game Pac-12 series beginning Thursday, May 6 at Farrington Stadium in Tempe.
All three games are scheduled to be broadcast on the Pac-12 Networks with Thursday’s first pitch being thrown at 5 p.m. PT. Friday’s contest will get underway at 6 p.m. before wrapping up the series on Saturday at 5 p.m. PT. The Sun Devils will honor the team’s five seniors following Saturday’s contest in what will mark the group’s final contest at home in the careers.
#10THINGS (Twitter-Friendly Notes)
@ASUSoftball has drawn 83 walks on 109 full count payoff pitches that weren’t put into play, compared to just 25 strikeouts,
@sirodriguez_ has reached base safely in 46 of @ASUSoftball’s 51 games this season and leads team w/ .488 OBP when leading off inning.
@ASUSoftball has struck out just 125 times as a team this season--lowest total of all D-I teams that have played at least 35 games in ‘15.
@nikki_girard has struck out just five times in 141 at-bats this season, the second lowest total among all power conference players.
@ASUSoftball has been ranked in 154 straight @NFCAorg polls and has been in the top ten of 127 of those.
Entering season, ASU has the nation’s third highest winning percentage since 2006 at .807 (473-114-1) behind Alabama and Florida.
@ASUSoftball has turned 29 double plays in 2015, compared to 13 in entirety of 2014. 0.57 per game average is 6th nationally
Haley Steele has 63 RBI on the season - good for 6th in ASU single-season history. Her 203 career RBI are fourth in ASU lore.
@A_Freeman9 has a hit in 11 straight games and her .438 clip on the season would be sixth-best total in ASU history.
@ASUSoftball is 28-3 in games when it scores six or more runs compared to a 4-16 record when it scores 5 or less.
Scouting the Opposition
UCLA has habitually had ASU’s number throughout history, posting a 91-32 all-time record against the Sun Devils since the team’s first contest back in 1980. As with many Pac-12 opponents though, the momentum has shifted in the past eight years with ASU winning six of the last eight series against the Bruins, including series sweeps in two of the last five years. This year’s Bruins will be far from pushovers though on a squad that enters the weekend with a 44-8 overall record and 17-3 tally in conference games and a shot at the Pac-12 title in its sights and a 12-game winning steak to its credit. UCLA took the regular season series finale last season from the Sun Devils at home, taking two of three against the Devils in Tempe.
The Bruins are led by dual-threat star and 2014 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year finalist Ally Carda. Carda enters the weekend with a 1.97 ERA and a 25-4 record in the circle, striking out 245 to just 83 walks. Very much the workhorse of the team, Carda has pitched 174 innings this season, twice as many as her pitching counterparts Selina Ta’amilo (6-2, 66 IP, 2.97 ERA) and Johanna Grauer (10-1, 79 IP, 3.10 ERA). At the plate, Carda has posted a .318 average on the week with seven round-trippers and a .505 on-base percentage.
Oddly enough, Carda only have the seventh best average among Bruin starts on a team that is absolutely stacked on the offensive end. The squad is led by USA Softball Play of the Year finalist Allexis Bennett, who enters the weekend with the nation’s second-highest batting average at .520 this season. Joining Bennett is the ever-dangerous Delaney Spalding, who owns 15 dingers on the year to go with her .414 average.
In The Rankings
The Devils remained at No. 24 in the the NFCA/USA Today Coaches Poll and at No. 23 in the USA Softball/ESPN.com rankings following its series win against Stanford in Palo Alto this past weekend. ASU did drop five spots, however, to No. 25 in the RPI rankings as a result of the losing the series final after already claiming the series.
The View From The Top
Over the past nine seasons, the Sun Devils have been among the most dominant teams in the nation. One need look no further than the weekly NFCA Coaches Poll to get a gauge of that. The Sun Devils have been ranked in 154 consecutive Coaches Polls, a streak that dates back to Week 2 of the 2006 season. The Sun Devils entered the top-10 in Week 6 of that season and have since been ranked in the top 10 in 129 of the 154 polls that have taken place since the team entered the rankings in 2006. ASU is one of just five programs to lay a claim to being in every poll since early in that 2006 season, joining Michigan, UCLA, Oklahoma and Alabama at the top of the list.
Strength of Schedule
ASU’s solid RPI ranking is due in large part to playing one of the toughest schedules in the nation this season. Of ASU’s 51 games this season, 20 have been against squads ranked nationally - going 8-12 in those games. ASU is 14-11 in its last 25 games and all but eight of those games have come against teams that are currently ranked. The Devils have three victories this season against teams that were ranked in the top-10 at the time of the tilt. ASU had seven wins against ranked teams in March, trailing only the eight posted by Auburn in the month for the most in the nation. The Sun Devil schedule is currently rated as the ninth toughest Strength of Schedule in the NCAA this season (and bound to go up this week) with 33 games played against teams in the top 69 in the most current RPI and 17 against teams ranked in the top 25 in those RPI rankings. Ten of ASU’s losses have come against those Top 25 RPI teams.
Craig Nicholson Leading the Way
The Sun Devils are in their second season under head coach Craig Nicholson. In his first season as the head coach at Arizona State, Coach Nicholson led the Sun Devils to an impressive 46-12-1 record and another berth in the postseason. ASU was one of sixteen teams selected to host an NCAA Regional earning the No. 9 national seed. Nicholson guided ASU to a third place finish in his first year in the historically tough Pac-12 conference. Despite it being just his first season, Nicholson led ASU to victories over powerhouse programs such as Oklahoma, Michigan, Texas, Washington and UCLA. Under his tutelage, two Sun Devils, Amber Freeman and Dallas Escobedo, were named NFCA Second Team All-Americans. In Nicholson’s new offensive system, Amber Freeman put up monster numbers batting a career best .406 with 11 home runs on her way to a First Team All-Pac 12 season.
Nicholson was the head coach at Ball State for the for seven seasons where he amassed a 241-162 record with the Cardinals and now holds a 1042-282-1 career record. Nicholson replaced Clint Myers, who accepted a similar position at Auburn on June 14. On top of coaching at Ball State, Nicholson was the associate head coach for the Chicago Bandits of the National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) in 2008 and helped the team to a NPF title.
Lights, Camera, Action
All three games against UCLA will be broadcast live on the Pac-12 Networks. Ann Schatz will be on the call alongside analyst Kenzie Fowler. The Sun Devils have received plenty of love through the Pac-12 this season with 21 games scheduled to be broadcast live on the Pac-12 Networks and another 20 streamed live via the Pac-12.com. Fans should check their local listings for the Pac-12 Networks station in their area, or they may tune in online at www.pac-12.com/live.
On The Airwaves
For the third consecutive year Blaze Sports Radio will provide the call for all of Arizona State’s home games this season. Fans in the Tempe area can tune in at 1330 AM and also listen online at ustream.tv/channel/blaze-sports.
A Look Back - Stanford
The No. 24 ASU Softball team picked up a road series win against the Stanford Cardinal in Palo Alto this past weekend, taking two out of three in the series. ASU (32-19, 10-10 Pac-12) scored a team Pac-12 record 20 runs in the opening game of the series - a 20-0 shellacking - in five innings before following it up with a 16-6 victory in six innings on Saturday. ASU dropped the final game of the series, 4-2, on Sunday on a ninth-inning walk-off home run by the Cardinal.
Senior Legacy
The Sun Devils will honor their 2015 senior class on Senior Day following Saturday’s finale against UCLA and that senior class this year can provide plenty of work for the editor of the Sun Devil record books by the time the season is done. Amber Freeman currently finds herself fourth in ASU history with 55 career home runs, fifth with 194 RBI, sixth with 258 total hits and fifth with 45 doubles. Keeping pace alongside her in most categories is Haley Steele, who is currently fifth in homers (47), 12th in hits (228), third in RBI (203) and fourth in doubles (48). Elizabeth Caporuscio is tied for 16th in home runs (27), 12th in RBI (139) and sixth in doubles (44). Fellow senior Bethany Kemp is tied for 10th with 34 career dingers and 22nd with 97 career RBI. Those four seniors hold a combined 137-26 (.840) record overall in games played at Farrington Stadium. They will be join on Senior Day by fellow standout Sierra Rodriguez, who has arguably been one of the top and most exciting surprises for the Sun Devils this season as she has become one of the most competent hitters and baserunners on the squad.
‘Ber, It’s Cold In Here
Two-time All-American and 2013 Pac-12 Player of the Year Amber Freeman was recently named one of 25 finalists for the USA Softball National Player of the Year and continues to lead the Sun Devils on and off the field. She’s helped with her trek up the Sun Devil record books with her .438 batting average thus far this season and team-leading 14 home runs while sitting second on the squad with 48 RBI. Her .794 slugging percentage leads the team by 150 points, and she also leads the squad with a career-high 15 doubles (after having 10 in the entirety of 2014). Freeman has been among ASU’s most clutch hitters to date, batting 28-for-56 (.500) with two outs on the board and second on the team with 24 two-out RBI out of her 48 total. She leads the team with 20 multi-hit games in 51 games to date. In 2014, she led the team with a .406 batting average that went down as the 13th-best single season mark in program history. Freeman led the team with 69 hits and a .480 OBP this season as well, while ranking second on the team in RBI with 44. Freeman hit safely in all but 11 games on the season and reached base in all but five games of the 57 appearances she made. Freeman was the 11th overall pick in the 2015 National Pro Fastpitch League draft, taken in the third round by the USSSA Pride.
Leading the Pac
Amber Freeman has taken her game to the next level in Pac-12 action, batting .500 in conference games with six home runs to go along with 19 RBI and five doubles. Her .500 average is tops in the conference in Pac-12 games while her .883 slugging percentage and .587 on-base percentage are sixth and third, respectively. Additionally, Freeman has successfully advanced runners on 28-of-46 chances in Pac-12 games, a whopping .609 average. Freeman has homered in three straight games and is currently sixth in conference play with six home runs. Freeman has a hit in all but seven games this season and all but two Pac-12 games on the year. The senior has batted safely in 11 straight games, posting multiple hits in five of those.
Chelsea Lately
Sophomore Chelsea Gonzales has shown she has no qualms replacing All-American Cheyenne Coyle with several highlight reel plays so far this season at shortstop with 105 assists and 91 putouts to just 10 errors (.951 fielding percentage). Her .951 fielding percentage is second among Pac-12 shortstops behind only Utah’s Anissa Urtez (.965), who has 33 fewer chances. She’s currently sitting at a .301 average for the season and fourth on the team with 10 home runs--surpassing her season total of eight from a year ago--and third with 40 RBI. As a freshman, Gonzales finished the year batting .333 on the season and struck out just 14 times - the least among Sun Devil starters - while posting a .356 on-base percentage. She finished with a team-leading 19 two-out RBI of her 45 total RBI that were second on the team. Finishing second on the team with 45 RBI, Gonzales’ effort was even more impressive as she did it in 138 at bats, between 30-50 fewer at bats than the majority of the ASU starters. She one of 25 semifinalists for the National Freshman of the Year trophy while she was also named to the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team for her efforts. She also became the first Sun Devil in postseason history to hit a home run in three consecutive games.
Going...Going...GONE-Zales!
Chelsea Gonzales has made the most of her move to the three-hole in the ASU batting order. Since the start of Pac-12 play, Gonzales has played all but one game in the three hole, posting a .304 average and leading the team with 20 RBI in conference games with four home runs. Gonzales has 10 home runs on the season, passing her season total from her freshman year. Her grand slam in the seventh inning against Arizona helped pave the way for a game-one comeback and eventual series victory. With 18 career home runs, the sophomore is currently 20th in ASU career history in the category
‘Ru-sci-o, ‘Ru-sci-o, ‘RU-SCI-OOOOOO
Elizabeth Caporuscio has been slowly finding some of her gap-to-gap power that made her so efficent last season and is batting .293 on the season while fifth on the team with 10 doubles. Last season, Caporuscio batted .322 (fifth on the team) with a team-leading 17 doubles in the process - good for second in the Pac-12 and second in ASU single-season history. . She was second on the team with 16 two-out RBIs and proved she was the hitter you want with the bases loaded, with five hits in 11 opportunities (.455) and a grand slam on the season. She also led the team overall with 18 multi-hit games.
A Steele Trap
Haley Steele awoke in a big way in the trek to the Southwest against New Mexico State and UTEP with a performance that shot her yearly average up 40 points. Steele now has a .337 average is squarely in on pace for the team’s RBI title with 63 on the season - 15 more than any other Sun Devil - setting a career high and currently sixth in ASU single season history in the category. Her 203 career RBI make her one of just three Sun Devil in history to reach the 200-mark and she sits third all-time in that category. Her 12 home runs are currently third of the team. She has done exactly what she’s supposed to do with a runner on third and less than two outs, bringing that runner home on 13-of-17 opportunities (.765) which included a walk-off grand slam against New Mexico State. Her 18 multi-RBI games this season are four more than any other Sun Devil. She has posted a team-leading 29 hits with runners in scoring position on 75 at-bats (.387) and has statistically been ASU’s best hitter with the bases loaded, going 9-for-17 (.529) with two grand slams this season. In the final three games of the NMSU/UTEP road trip, Steele went 10-for-12 with 12 RBI and three home runs. The senior finished the 2014 season batting .349 (second on the team) on the year with 12 home runs (second on the team) while knocking in a team-leading 50 RBI.
B’s In the Trap
Bethany Kemp is yet another senior Sun Devil looking to help leave a legacy at ASU and she is currently tied for the team lead 14 home runs - three of which have been grand slams - and has set a new career single season best with the effort. The senior has been exceptional at getting on base, maintaining a .429 on-base percentage despite a .307 batting average, a byproduct of being second the team with 33 walks, a total that is eighth in the Pac-12. Kemp has also been one of ASU’s most consistent hitters when it comes to not leaving runners on base, stranding just 38 total runners in the last 11 weeks after stranding 23 in the first two weeks of the season. The senior finished 2014 second on the team 11 home runs. Kemp is fourth on the team with a .579 slugging percentage while drawing 32 walks on the season, which was good for third on the roster. With 34 career home runs to date, she has moved up the 10th on ASU’s all-time home run list. All of her home runs have come in the last three seasons.
Hear No Evil, Si No Evil
Senior Sierra Rodriguez has made the most of her starting role in 2015 and has been one of the biggest highlights early on for the Sun Devils. Batting out of the leadoff spot, Rodriguez is currently fifth on the team with a .331 average and is second on the team with a .495 on-base percentage. She has reached base safely on 40-of-82 opportunities (.488) when serving as the leadoff batter in an inning and has shown ample base-running ability with a team-leading 43 runs scored. She also leads the team with 41 walks, good for a fourth in Pac-12. She has gotten on-base without harm in 46 of the team’s 51 games this season. She has been one of ASU’s most consistent batters in moving the base runners, successfully advancing her teammates on 54-of-88 opportunities (.614), leading the team’s starters in the category. She hit her first career home run against Oklahoma and led the team with two in the series against Cal.
Oh My Sash!
Sophomore catcher Sashel Palacios is another Sun Devil on a recent tear, now sitting third on the team with a .349 average this season. Her .478 on-base percentage is currently third on the team and she has been incredibly proficient at advancing baserunners, doing so 47 times in 80 opportunities, a .588 average that is second among the team’s starters. Her 114 putouts are second on the team and she leads the team with four runners thrown out attempting to steal base this season.
Abs of Spiel
Junior Abby Spiel has quietly become a steady contributor to the Sun Devils and suddenly finds herself leading the team with a .368 batting average on 28-of-76 hitting, though she has been prone to the strikeout in leading the team with 18 this season. She earned the first two RBI of her career at the Lousiville Slugger Invitational and had her first career extra-base hit against Utah.
Just In The Nikk of Time
Much of ASU’s success this season has come from its proficiency in the bottom half of the batting order and leading that charge has been Nikki Girard. The junior was the team’s leading hitter at the Judi Garman Classic, posting a .438 average of 7-of-16 hitting with three RBI and a .500 overall on-base percentage that also paced the team through the weekend. Girard is batting .270 on the season - one of few Devils whose batting average went UP against both Oregon and Utah - with 10 doubles. She has also been a menace to strike out, doing so just five times this season in 141 at bats and is currently ranked as the second-toughest person to strikeout in the Pac-12 and 14th-toughest nationally. She is one of just two players nationally from a power conference school with five or fewer strikeouts with a minimum of two at bats per game. Perhaps the most exciting aspect of her game, however, is her ability to post at least one highlight reel defensive play her game at second base as she currently posts a solid .956 fielding percentage this season.
One...Two...Three Strikes...Macha-ha-ha-ha
Freshman pitcher Breanna Macha (pronounced maw-haw) is starting to rack up the strikeouts and leads the team with 132 this season, a total that currently ranks fourth in the Pac-12 while her 40 batters struck out looking are third-most in the league. Macha leads the team with a 3.75 ERA. The youngster made history made history against Binghamton, pitching the first extra-inning no-hitter in ASU history in a 1-0, eight-inning victory. The youngster went 2-1 with a save at the Judi Garman Classic, becoming one of just two pitchers nationally to take home wins against two top-10 teams on the weekend (Michigan/Baylor) and was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week for her performance, the only weekly award by any Sun Devil this season.
A Dale of Two Cities
True freshman RHP Dale Ryndak is a long ways from her home in Downers Grove, Ill., but that hasn’t stopped her from asserting herself as the same solid pitcher those watching her in high school remember. The frosh carries an 14-8 record so far in 2015 and is fourth in the Pac-12 with 35 batters struck out looking. She has shined the most with the lights brightest, not giving up a single earned run in 11 of 12 innings pitched against No. 4/3 Oklahoma and she responded to a three-run, game-tying sixth-inning by the Sooners last weekend with a 1-2-3 inning against the murderer’s row of OU hitters in the top of the seventh to set up ASU’s walk-off grand slam victory. Ryndak has been helped by her own capable defense, as she is fourth on the team with 32 assists on defense.
The New Dynamic Duo?
On a squad looking to replace the exceptional pitching tandem of Dallas Escobedo and Mackenzie Popescue, the ASU Softball program is one of just five teams nationally to bring in two Gatorade Players of the Year this season in pitchers Breanna Macha and Dale Ryndak. Macha achieved the accomplishment for the state of Arizona while Ryndak was the Illinois Player of the Year. It is the first time in ASU history it has gained two Gatorade Players of the Year in one signing class.
What’s The Catch?
With two true freshman pitchers in the circle, the job of the Sun Devils catchers becomes that much more critical and ASU’s trio of catchers have been exceptional. Between Sashel Palacios, Amber Freeman and Katee Aguirre, there have been 234 recorded putouts and 17 assists with ZERO errors for a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage. The trio’s perfect fielding percentage is notable as there are just 10 players in the Pac-12 conference who meet the minimum number of innings played without an error and ASU represents three of them.
Double the Fun
Without question, one of the biggest turnarounds for the Sun Devils this season has actually come on the defensive end of the ball. Last season, ASU was ranked 203rd out of 289 programs in double plays per game, turning just 13 total on the season for a 0.22 double play per game average. ASU has already turned 29 double plays in 2015, a 0.57 per game average that is ranked sixth nationally and second in the Pac-12.
Not Going Down Swinging
In some facets of life, going down swinging is considered a compliment. That’s not the case in softball and there aren’t many better than the Devils at avoiding it. ASU has struck out just 125 times this season, a total that is 35 fewer than any other team in the Pac-12 and the second lowest of ANY NCAA team this season (Prairie View has 123 in 17 fewer games than ASU). More importantly, ASU has 244 walks on the year--the eighth-highest total nationally- to create almost a 2:1 walk to strikeout ratio. ASU has worked the count full 201 times this season and on the 109 of those full counts where the ball was not put into play, ASU has drawn 83 walks on the payoff pitch to just 25 strikeouts, an incredible 3.3 to 1 ratio. Bethany Kemp has worked the count full 27 times this season and drawn a walk on the payoff pitch 16 times to just four strikeouts.
Dinger Derby
Arizona State has developed a reputation for knocking the ball out of the park and has done so 73 times this season, a total that is currently third in the Pac-12 and 17th in the nation. The team’s 1.43 home runs per game are third in the Pac-12 and 17th nationally. ASU has three or more home runs in eight games this season and have a home run in all but 11 of the 51 games it has played thus far. Unfortunately, ASU has also given up 69 bombs this year and that ranks as the second-worst total in the entire nation. Of the 238 runs scored against the Devils this season, 110 have come as a result of home runs. There were plenty of longballs in 2014 for the Sun Devils, who finished third in the Pac-12 and ninth nationally with 74 over the course of the season - the seventh highest total in ASU history.
Grand Slama Jamma
The ASU offense knocked six grand slams last season, two more than the 2013 season and just two shy of the total from 2012 and 2013 combined (8). The Devils already have eight in 2015 and have lived and died by their success with the bases loaded. Three of those grand slams have resulted in “walk-off” victories, two by the true definition and one forcing a run-rule ending. The Devils are just 2-for-30 (.067) with the bases loaded in the team’s 18 losses this season - going 0-for-4 in the team’s 13-inning loss to Washington and 0-for-4 in a 11-1 run-rule loss against Arizona - while hitting 30-for-73 (.411) in the team’s wins with the bases loaded. All eight grand slams have come in victories. Since February 27, ASU has loaded the bases at least once in 7 of the team’s 13 losses, going 0-21 in that span. In that same time span, ASU has loaded the bases in all but two of its 19 wins and recorded at least one hit in 16 of those games.
Don’t Miss Your Chance
ASU’s losses this season haven’t come from a lack of chances. The Sun Devils have struggled at times to get run-plating hits in clutch situations and it has hurt them in the win column. In ASU’s 19 losses, the Devils are just 2-for-30 (.067) with the bases loaded and an inauspicious 33-of-168 (.196) with two outs on the board, unable to keep innings alive. In those games, ASU is just 11-of-28 (.393) in bringing home a runner from third with less than two outs and just 28-of-188 (.149) with runners in scoring position. In ASU’s victories, the Devils are 33-for-82 (.402) with the bases loaded and 117-for-307 (.381) with two outs. The Devils are 147-of-354 (.415) with runners in scoring position in victories and have brought a runner from from third with less than two outs on 74-of-111 (.667) chances. The biggest difference, however, has been that ASU’s left 176 runners on base (9.3 per game) over the course of 19 losses compared to 228 in 32 wins (7.1 per game).
Taking Offense
If the first month of any indication, it has become apparent that run production is going to be more important than previous seasons while the team works through the growing pains of two true freshmen pitchers. ASU is 28-3 this season in games where it has scored six or more runs compared to a paltry 4-16 mark in contests where the team scores five or fewer runs.
A Beginning and an End
The ASU offensive attack has been come early and often in games this season, but it has struggled to keep the momentum going at times. The Devils have outscored opponents 52-23, 35-24 and 68-34 in the first, second and third innings of games (+74 runs or +1.5 runs per game) but that number does not hold true for the remainder of the innings. ASU holds just a +33 total scoring advantage (.65 runs per game) in the in the fourth inning and beyond (including extras).
Postseason Successes
The Sun Devils are coming off their 26th appearance in NCAA Tournament history, the fourth-highest tally of the 64 teams in last year’s tournament behind only UCLA, Arizona and Florida State. Last season marked the 10th consecutive NCAA appearance for ASU. ASU is 85-51 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and is 55-17 since 2006 in the tournament with two NCAA Championships and seven trips to the WCWS in that time with an incredible 32-5 record at home in the span.
Note on WCWS
The Sun Devils have advanced the WCWS in seven of the last nine seasons, two more than any other program in the nation in that time frame. Florida is second with five in that span. In that nine-year span, ASU has one of the top winning percentages in the country with a 473-114-1 record since 2006. The .804 percentage is tied for third nationally with Michigan behind only Alabama (.837) and Florida (.810).
Winning Percentage Since 2006 (Prior to 2015)
1. Alabama - .833 (485-97)
2. Florida - .812 (492-114)
3. Arizona State - .807 (473-114-1)
4. Tennessee - .803 (467-114-1)
5. Oklahoma - .800 (435-108-1)