TEMPE -- The Arizona State University softball team will head to Los Angeles this weekend for its penultimate Pac-12 road series against No. 15/13 UCLA, beginning Friday, April 29.
The three-game series will get underway Friday at 5 p.m. PT. Saturday’s game will be at 7 p.m. while the finale is set for a 12 p.m. first pitch. Friday and Saturday’s games are scheduled to be broadcast by the Pac-12 Networks in some form.
#10THINGS (Twitter-Friendly Notes)
- After starting year with 27 errors in 1st 23 games (1.2 per game), ASU defense has buckled down with just 12 errors in last 23 games (.52 pg)
- The Sun Devils are currently tied for 19th nationally with 55 home runs this season.
- Nikki Girard’s .965 fielding percentage is the highest percentage in the @Pac12 among the second basemen in the league.
- Taylor Becerra is the second-best fielding third baseman in the @Pac12 by percentage w/ her .969 clip 2nd at ASU in last 25 years.
- Sashel Palacios has reached base in eight consecutive games and has a team-leading five-game active hitting streak.
- Chelsea Gonzales is already just six RBIs away from breaking her single-season career best of 45, set during her freshman year.
- The Sun Devils have stolen 46 bases this season after stealing just 12 bases in all of 2015.
- After struggling in the field early (13 errors in 21 games), shortstop @cgonzales112 has just three errors in her last 22 games.
- ASU’s two @Pac12 Players of Week this year (Soria and Girard) had career averages of .247 and .259 entering ‘16. .333 and .339 this year.
- ASU’s pitching staff and exceptional outfield have allowed opponents to manage just 33 doubles this season, 15th-fewest in the nation.
LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION
Fans will be able to view or listen to each game in the series via some medium or another.
Friday’s game will be broadcast live on the Pac-12 Network National stream, as well as Pac-12 Arizona and Los Angeles. Saturday’s game will only be available through Pac-12 Arizona and Los Angeles. Amanda Freed will serve as the analyst for both games while the play-by-play will be provided by Anne Marie Anderson on Friday and Ann Schatz on Saturday. Dependent on provider, fans may also be able to view each game digitally through Pac-12.com/live.
Sunday’s game is not slated for a live broadcast but a live audio stream will be available through UCLABruins.com.
SCOUTING THE BRUINS
The Bruins lead the all-time series, 93-36, but ASU took last year’s series in Tempe on senior night, rallying from an eight-run deficit in the rubber match to an 11-10 victory on Jennifer Soria’s three-run walk-off home run. The winner of each of the last five contests of the series have scored at least eight runs. The Sun Devils won the 2013 series in Los Angeles and have won seven of the last eight at UCLA since 2008.
Allexis Bennett helps lead the Bruin offensive attack and also anchors the defensive with a perfect fielding mark in center field. Her .437 average leads the team and her 48 runs scored this year are third in the Pac-12. Delaney Spaulding (.341) and Madeline Jelenicki (.326) provide the pop in the middle of the order with 12 and 10 home runs, respectively, and 52 and 40 RBIs.
Johanna Grauer and Selina Ta’amilo have essentially split all the inning pitched this season with Grauer clocking in with a 3.95 ERA and a 14-8 record in a team-leading 143.2 innings pitched and has been prone to the long ball, giving up 20 this season. Ta’amilo is 13-5 with a 3.74 ERA while allowing just five home runs and a team-leading 100 strikeouts.
THE VIEW FROM THE TOP
- For the first time since entering the NFCA Coaches Poll in Week 2 of the 2006 season, ASU will enter the weekend without a ranking attached to it - ending a streak of 167 consecutive polls in which the Sun Devils were ranked.
- ASU was 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.
- ASU was the first team receiving votes in this week’s NFCA Poll and came in at No. 35 in the RPI rankings.
PUT ME IN, COACH
Senior Jennifer Soria was among ASU’s hottest players to close out the 2015 campaign and looks to carry that into 2016. The recipient of the team’s hardest worker award for two consecutive seasons, Soria perfectly exemplifies the John Fogerty classic at centerfield.
- A career .247 hitter prior to 2016, Soria is batting .341 on the season (fourth on the team) and leads the team with 11 home runs after having just eight total in her career prior to this year.
- Her 43 runs scored this year are 13 more than any other Devil and tied for fourth in the Pac-12.
- Soria has advanced runners 44 times on 77 chances this season (.571) and is second on the team with 15 hits with runners in scoring position.
- With nine doubles this season, Soria has surpassed her career total of eight entering the season.
- Soria is an absolutely deadly hitter when she gets ahead in the count where she’s 21-of-47 (.446) when she puts the ball in play. She’s worked the count full 20 times this season, good for third on the team, and is 5-for-11 on the payoff pitch with a team-leading seven walks to just two Ks for a .667 OBP.
- Soria leads the team in batting at a .488 clip as a leadoff hitter (21-of-43).
- Soria’s defense is good for just about a highlight a game and earned her Pac-12 All-Defensive honors last season.
- The senior brings a team-leading five-game hitting streak into the weekend and has multiple hits in two of those, tied for the team lead with 14 multi-team hits overall.
- The senior was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week after the Cal series after she went 7-for-13 on the weekend with a whopping four home runs, slugging an otherworldly 1.462 over the course of three games. She knocked a team-leading six RBIs and scored seven runs in the series, four more than any other player on the roster and nearly a third of the total 22 runs scored by the Sun Devils overall.
IN THE NIKK OF TIME
The Sun Devils aren’t exactly fielding a team of veterans in 2016 and the only multi-year starter in the field coming into the year was senior Nikki Girard. As a result, her leadership has been heavily relied on to help pace ASU this season.
- A career .259 hitter entering the year, Girard is batting .326 in 2016 and has spent the majority of the season in the cleanup spot.
- A proven gap-hitter, Girard is tied for eight in ASU history with 39 career doubles and leads the Sun Devils with 10 this season.
- Girard has been otherworldly with runners in scoring position this season and is 25-for-51 on the year (.490) when she has a chance to bring a runner home. That total is especially impressive when you consider she had just 16 hits with RISP in the entirety of 2015.
- All but 18 of her 43 hits this season have come with a runner in scoring position and she leads the closest Sun Devil by 10 hits in the category.
- She is second on the squad with 38 RBIs - just outside the top 10 in the conference - and her 10 doubles are tied for fifth in the Pac-12.
- Perhaps the most exciting aspect of her game, however, is her ability to post at least one highlight reel defensive play per game at second base as she finished the year with a solid .963 fielding percentage last season and earned a spot on the All-Pac-12 Defensive team as a result.
- She continues to field at a high-clip at one of the toughest positions on the field at second base with her .965 fielding percentage this year good for the highest mark among all Pac-12 second basemen.
- Girard was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week after a stellar weekend at the Diamond Devil Invite where she when 10-for-12 with nine RBI and slugging 1.414.
K IS FOR STRIKEOUT...OR KESSLER...SAME THING
Redshirt junior transfer Kelsey Kessler has quickly become a staple in the ASU pitching rotation and has been ASU’s most consistent ace to date.
- Kessler is 13-9 on the season with a team-leading two saves.
- It should be noted that three of Kessler’s losses have come in games where she has allowed one or fewer earned runs and in all three of those games, the eventually winning run was unearned (two international tiebreakers runs in extra innings against Fullerton and No. 9 James Madison and two unearned seventh inning runs following an infield error against Arizona).
- She is fourth in the Pac-12 among pitchers with over 125 innings pitched with a 3.12 ERA to date.
- The junior leads the way with 151 strikeouts, a total that is nearly three times more than any other pitcher on the squad and currently good for third in the conference and just outside the top 30 nationally.
- Her 517 career strikeouts (including her time at Kansas) currently rank eighth among all the NCAA Division I junior pitchers in the nation and 27th among all active pitchers in their careers.
- She has allowed just 44 walks this season for over a 3:1 strikeout to walk ratio.
- Kessler has been exceptional at getting ahead of the count, throwing first pitch strikes 65 percent of the time this season and throwing a strike on 56 percent of her 0-1 counts.
GET ON BASE AND CHIL
Nichole Chilson came in this season under the radar after seeing limited action as a freshman, but the sophomore is quietly putting up some of the best numbers on the team.
- Chilson is third on the team with a .350 average this season with 25 RBIs - fourth on the team - and a .431 OBP.
- The sophomore has been ASU’s most consistent batter with two outs this year, batting 15-for-40 (.375) on the season when it’s up to her to keep the inning alive. She’s third on the team with 12 two-out RBIs this season.
- Chilson is second on the team with 15 hits with runners in scoring position with a .319 average on 15-of-47 hitting.
- Four times this season has Chilson logged three or more RBIs in a single game, tied for the team lead in the category while her four games with three or more hits are also leading the team.
TAYLOR GANG
True freshman Taylor Becerra became the first frosh to earn a starting nod this season, doing so at third base. She became the first true freshman to start for the Sun Devils at third since the person she replaced at that position: Haley Steele back in 2012.
- One of the more underrated aspects of Becerra’s game is her defense. The freshman is fielding at a .969 clip on third base this season. That’s the second highest fielding percentage among all Pac-12 third baseman and the second highest fielding percentage for a Sun Devil at third base in at least the last 25 years behind only All-American Krista Donnenwirth’s 2011 .988 fielding percentage. Becerra has the highest fielding percentage for a freshman playing third base at ASU in at least 25 years.
- Becerra has been a pleasant surprise this season and is second on the team with a .367 average and third with a .438 OBP.
- She had her 12-game hitting streak snapped against Arizona but that streak remains the longest by any Sun Devil this season. She added an eight game-streak that’s tied for the fifth-longest streak on the team.
- As a leadoff batter, Becerra has been admirable, reaching on 17-of-38 (.447) chances this season.
- The freshman has been elite when it comes to moving baserunners as she has done so at a team-leading .650 clip this season, advancing runners on 39-of-60 chances.
CHELSEA LATELY
Entering the season, there wasn’t much doubt that Chelsea Gonzales would be the top returning bat in the Sun Devil order this year and she has more than lived up to that billing thus far.
- Gonzales leads the Sun Devils leads the Sun Devils with 11 home runs and 40 RBIs this season, totals good for third and sixth in the conference, respectively.
- After struggling in the field early this season wtih 13 errors in the first 21 games of action, Gonzales has been exceptional with just three errors in her last 25 games.
- Gonzales has 16 two-out RBIs - easily leading the team and a staple of her career at ASU. She leads the team with 12 multi-RBI games and is third with 12 multi-hit games as well. She has a hit in six of the last seven games and multiple hits in three of those.
- Gonzales has a team-leading 45 instances of advancing a runner on 79 chances (.570) and leads the team with 20 instances of advancing a runner despite an out, including a team-leading three sacrifice flies.
- There have been numerous times this season that opponents have avoided Gonzales in the lineup, demonstrated by her 18 walks - just outside the top-10 in the Pac-12 this season.
- In her first season as starting shortstop last year, Gonzales finished with 122 assists and 102 putouts to just 10 errors (.957 fielding percentage). Her .957 fielding percentage was second among Pac-12 shortstops behind only Utah’s Anissa Urtez (.958), who did so in 43 fewer chances.
- Gonzales continues her climb up the ASU record books, now 15th all-time with 29 home runs and 15th with 121 RBI.
ADIOS, PALACIOS
Junior catcher Sashel Palacios was perhaps one of the biggest surprises of the 2015 campaign as she went from a reserve role as a freshman to the starting catcher by the midway point of her sophomore season.
- Palacios is one of ASU’s most consistent hitters and currently holds the team’s second longest hitting streak on the season at 10 games.
- After an 11-game stretch prior to the Washington series where she managed just two hits, Palacios has since had a hit in seven of the last eight games and has multiple hits in four of those.
- She has reached base in eight-straight games, the longest active streak on the team while her current five-game hitting streak is tied for first as well.
- Palacios is batting .326 on the year with four homers and 22 RBIs.
- She finished fifth on the team with a .323 average last season. Her .459 on-base percentage was good for third on the team and she was incredibly proficient at advancing baserunners, doing so 52 times in 93 opportunities, a .559 average that was third among the team’s starters.
- Her 141 putouts were second on the team and she led the team with five runners thrown out attempting to steal base.
- Palacios didn’t have an error during the regular season, earning Pac-12 All-Defensive team honors while also being named a Third-Team All-West Region selection.
ABS OF SPIEL
Senior Abby Spiel quietly become a steady contributor to the Sun Devils last season and has been true to that consistent form in 2016.
- Spiel is batting .330 this season and is second on the team with 30 runs scored.
- She has knocked nine RBIs this season, which is notable as she had just five in her career entering 2016.
- Spiel is 13-for-14 on stolen bases this season, second in the Pac-12 in the category.
- A speedy slap-hitter, Spiel’s forte has been advancing baserunners this year and she leads the team in advancing runner at a .609 clip (39-of-64).
- Spiel holds ASU’s longest reach base streak this season with her 14-straight games doing so early this year.
- Last season, she finished the season with the team’s second-highest batting average with a .364 clip on 28-of-77 hitting.
RYNDAK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN
Sophomore RHP Dale Ryndak had a solid freshman campaign last season and is looking to build upon that in year two.
- Ryndak has opened 2016 with a respectable 3.85 ERA and has posted an 8-5 record with one save.
- The sophomore has struck out 38 batters this season and allowed just 16 walks in 72.2 IP, a total that is tied for seventh nationally among pitchers with over 60 innings pitched.
- The sophomore has been tough to get a hit off of when she has runners in scoring position as the opposition is 17-of-77 (.221) against her when she gets in a jam this year.
- She’s also efficiently closed out innings as opponents are just 6-of-35 (.171) against her when they have runners in scoring position and two outs.
- Ryndak finished with a 14-8 record last season and was fourth in the Pac-12 with 37 batters struck out looking.
- She finished with 143.1 innings pitched on the season, ninth in the conference, and her 82 total strikeouts were 10th in the Pac-12.
BREE IT ON
Breanna Macha established herself as a legitimate pitching option as a true freshman last season and picked up where she left off following a strong finish in 2015.
- The sophomore is currently 6-5 with 34 strikeouts while allowing just 12 home runs, just outside the top-10 for lowest total in the Pac-12 this year. She had given up 31 through 46 games last season.
- Macha led the team as a freshman in wins (18), strikeouts (152) and total ERA (3.69) - the fifth-lowest total in the Pac-12 among pitchers with 40 or more appearances - and earned All-Pac-12 and NFCA All-West Region honors while being named to the Pac-12 All-Freshman team as well.
- Macha finished with 152 strikeouts, the fourth highest total in the Pac-12.
- Her 212.1 innings pitched were second most in the conference while she was third in the conference with five saves.
FA LEI-BOOM-A
Freshman first baseman Fa Leilua has been ASU’s most active player off the bench this season and sure to become a fan favorite with her awesome name and penchant for hitting the ball out of the park.
- Leilua currently leads the team with a .392 average with six home runs and four doubles on 29 hits for a .689 slugging percentage, second on the team across all players.
- Leilua is one of just four ASU players who have maintained over a .350 average in a all of ASU’s wins as well as in all of the team’s losses.
KICKING IT INTO AGUIRRE
Senior catcher Katee Aguirre looks to have a much larger role in 2016 behind the plate in both senses.
- Katee Aguirre has been solid early for the Sun Devils, fourth on the team with six doubles this season while posting a .306 overall average.
- With six doubles this season, Aguirre has crushed her previous career total of one in the category.
- Her 19 RBIs are seventh on the team and notable as she had just 13 total RBIs in all of 2015.
- Aguirre has the team’s second-longest hitting streak this season at 10 games and has a hit in 13 of the last 15 games for ASU.
- Last year, Katee Aguirre and Sashel Palacios combined for 173 recorded putouts and 13 assists with ZERO errors during the regular season for a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage. The duo’s perfect fielding percentage was notable as there were just seven players in the Pac-12 conference with 50 or more chances during the regular season that did not have a single error.
FULL COUNT ON ME
ASU put up exceptional numbers last season and had an uncanny way of finding success with a full count and little has changed this year.
- Of the Devils with the minimum number of at-bats this year, ASU is 37-of-96 (.385) when facing a full count and putting the ball into play.
- The Sun Devils have drawn a walk 40 times to 19 strikeouts with a full count, led by seven walks from Jennifer Soria and six from Taylor Becerra. With the 40 walks included, ASU has a .566 on-base percentage with a full count.
- On the flip side, RHP Kelsey Kessler has absolutely thrived when she gets hitters in a full-count situation. Facing 79 full counts this season, Kessler has allowed batters to hit just 7-for-64 (.109) with 31 strikeouts.
WALK THIS WAY
While ASU’s strikeout numbers may be up a bit compared to last season, the team is still exceptional on getting on base without having to swing the bat
- The Devils are currently fourth in the Pac-12 with 145 walks this season, a total that is ranked 27th among power conference teams nationally.
- On the flip side, the ASU pitching staff has allowed just 85 walks this season, ranked third in Pac-12 in fewest walks allowed to date and fifth fewest among all Power Five programs.
- ASU had 276 walks overall in 2015 --the eighth-highest total nationally- to create nearly a 2:1 walk to strikeout ratio.
KEEP IT CLEAN
The Sun Devils have always prided themselves on being exceptional both at the plate and in the field and ASU has done a solid job of cleaning up its defense in recent weeks.
- In the first 23 games, ASU had 27 errors (1.2 per game) and was fielding at just a .956 clip.
- Since then, ASU has just 12 errors in its last 23 games (.52 per game) while fielding .981.
- Chelsea Gonzales has returned to her Pac-12 All-Defensive self to lead the charge. After struggling in the field early this season wtih 13 errors in the first 21 games of action, Gonzales has had just three errors in her last 25 games.
- ASU’s .981 fielding percentage in Pac-12 games to date leads the conference.
ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US
ASU lost 64 percent of its extra base hits to graduation following last season and returns just 29 of the 81 home runs the Devils hit on the year (35.8 percent). That said, fans expected a slightly different offense than they might be accustomed to and part of that success is coming on the base path.
- The Devils have stolen 46 bases to date, a very notable tally as ASU had just 12 TOTAL steals in the 2015 campaign. The total is currently third in the Pac-12 and in 32nd nationally among Power Five teams after finishing as one of the 10 worst clubs overall in the nation in the category in 2015.
- Abby Spiel’s 13 stolen bases this season are tied for second in the conference.
- On the flip side, ASU has thrown out eight runners attempting to steal a base this season - good for third in the Pac-12.
- ASU has used pinch runners 84 times in 46 games thus far and brought those pinch runners home on 36 occasions (.428).
- ASU has laid down 24 sacrifice bunts already this season compared to having five TOTAL in 2015.
TAKE IT FOR A RIDE
The storyline around the Sun Devils entering the season was that the squad would need to utilize small ball to win games. But, behind Robert Wagner’s offensive coaching prowess, the storyline has been anything but that so far this season.
- The Devils have hit 55 home runs in 2016, tied for 14th nationally and third in the Pac-12. The total is notable as those returning to the team this season combined for a total of just 29 of the home runs hit last year after the graduation of five power-hitting seniors.
- ASU has hit 55 doubles to date, nearly on pace for the total it had at this point last season despite the loss of power in the lineup.
- As a team, ASU is batting .323 heading into the weekend, 25 points higher than it was batting at this point last season, and the 27h highest batting average in the nation this season.
THE DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES
The Sun Devils lost five all-conference caliber players after last season and returned just one multi-year starter in Nikki Girard. Needing a large number of players to step up this season in that absence, ASU has gone above and beyond what might have been expected.
- Four of the top five hitters for the Sun Devils this season include two true freshmen in Taylor Becerra (.367) and Fa Leilua (.392), a player that saw two at-bats last season in Nichole Chilson (.350) and a senior that had a career .244 average coming into the year in Jennifer Soria (.341).
- Despite being a three-year starter, Nikki Girard was just a .259 career hitter coming into 2016. This season she’s already set a new single season RBI mark with 38, a new home run high at six and is batting at a .326 clip to boot.
- If you were to include freshmen, entering the weekend there are just THREE Sun Devils on the roster that do not already have a career high in at-bats. Nikki Girard (132) appears to be on pace to top her previous high of 160 from last season as well, as does Sashel Palacios (95 at-bats this year after 124 last season).
- If Girard and Palacios continue their current pace, the only member of the roster that might not reach a career high in at-bats this season is Chelsea Gonzales.
KEEPING IT IN THE PARK
One area the Sun Devil pitching staff has slightly improved in is keeping the ball in the park after a terrible year in the category last season.
- ASU has allowed 46 home runs to date. Through this point last year, ASU had given up 60 homers. Unfortunately, home runs have been the bane of the team this year. 86 of the 181 runs given up by ASU this year (43.5 percent) have been by way of homer.
- ASU gave up 81 bombs in 2015 and that ranked as the worst total in the entire nation.
- Of the 266 runs scored against the Devils last season, 130 came as a result of home runs - nearly half of the total runs scored against the Devils on the year.
- ASU has done its part to limit extra base hits in general this year, allowing just 33 doubles as a pitching staff (and due to an incredibly speedy outfield), the 15th-lowest total in the NCAA.
SCORE MORE TO WIN MORE
Much of ASU’s success this season has been made while capitalizing on having runners in scoring position while limiting the opposition in those circumstances.
- ASU is batting .312 as a team (134-of-429) with runners in scoring position this season while limiting opponents to just 84 hits with RISP.
- Nikki Girard has paved that attack with 25 hits on 51 at bats with runners in scoring position while Jennifer Soria, Abby Spiel, Chelsea Gonzales, Nichole Chilson, Sashel Palacios and Katee Aguirre all have double-digit hits this season with RISP.