Friday's game will be streamed by ASU, but Saturday and Sunday's games will be televised by the Pac-12 Networks, with Ann Schatz and Kenzie Fowler on the call.
*PDF NOTES TO FOLLOW SOON*
LEADING OFF:
• Fresh off a road sweep of the Stanford Cardinal, No. 23 Arizona State softball will return to Farrington Stadium for a three game series against the tenth-ranked Utah Utes beginning Friday afternoon.
• The Sun Devils enter the weekend series after finding a lot of success at the plate against Stanford. Through three games against the Cardinal, ASU blasted 34 hits in 86 at-bats, resulting in hitting at a .395 clip on the weekend.
• In those 26 hits, the Sun Devils hit five home runs, en route to 26 runs crossing the plate. With the five homers last week, ASU has now amassed 41 home runs on the season, a mark that correlates to a 1.08 home runs per game average.
• The Sun Devils were just as good in the circle last week as they were at the plate. During the three games against Stanford, the Sun Devil pitching staff combined to post a 1.84 ERA that included just five runs on 10 hits.
• The strong pitching performance was just the latest impressive performance from a staff that has combined for the nation's 17th- best ERA, at 1.72. Both Breanna Macha (1.59) and Dale Ryndak (1.80) rank inside the top-100 for individual ERA, checking in at No. 49 and 70, respectively.
• The Sun Devils have shown the ability to reach base in a number of ways, leading to ASU being ranked No. 30 in the country with an astonishing .393 on base percentage.
• Senior shortstop Chelsea Gonzales continued her assault of the ASU record books last weekend, blasting her 41st career-home run moving her into seventh place all-time in ASU softball history. With 41 homers, Gonzales has passed ASU legends Phelan Wright (2001-04) and Krista Donnenwirth (2008-11), and is just one long-ball behind of Annie Lockwood (2009-12) in sixth place.
• ASU checked in at No. 23 in this week's NFCA Poll, marking the ninth straight week that the Sun Devils in the poll.
WEEKEND SCOUTING REPORT:
The Sun Devils will return to action this weekend riding high after sweeping the Cardinal, but they will need to regroup and refocus for a team, also riding a high from last weekend.
Utah enters the three-game set against the Sun Devils after claiming a huge series win over top-ranked Arizona last weekend. For the Utes, the series win over the nation's top-team was the first in program history. The Utes fell to the Wildcats, 1-5 in game one, but closed out the series with a 6-3 win in game two and a 3-2 win in game three.
The tenth-ranked Utes enter the weekend series boasting a .327 team batting average, a mark that ranks No. 12 in the country. Not surprisingly the hits have added up for the Utes and resulted in runs, 219 to be exact. The 219 runs puts the Utah scoring average at a robust 6.08 runs per game, a mark that ranks 16th-in the country.
Utah has been just a successful in the circle this season. Through 36 games, the Utah pitching staff has combined for a 1.80 ERA.
At the plate, Hannah Flippen has surpassed the 200-hit and 100-RBI plateaus for her career and recently set a new Utah mark for runs scored during her career. The slugging infielder leads the Pac-12 with a .436 batting average, ranks third in on-base percentage (.516), fourth in slugging percentage (.745) and runs batted in (37).
SERIES INFORMATION:
Date: April 21-23
Game Times: 8 p.m. // 5 p.m. // 12 p.m.
Location: Tempe, Ariz.
Venue: Alberta B. Farrington Stadium
Dimensions: 192 (LF), 208 (CF), 192 (RF)
Streaming: ASU Live Stream (Friday)
Pac-12 Network(Saturday and Sunday)
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
All-Time Series: Utah leads, 32-94 Last Meeting 2016
Result: Utah won, 6-5
WEEKEND PROMOTIONS:
Friday: Join us Friday night at the ballpark as we host Super Hero Night. Fans can participate in Super Hero bingo, as well as enjoy hero-themed music throughout the night.
Saturday: Saturday will be the Sun Devils' annual PINK game in support of cancer awareness and research. Fans who wear pink to the game will receive discounted ticket prices at the gate. Stay after the game for an autograph session with the sophomore class!
Sunday: The series will conclude with ASU's Sunday FUNday. All fans can participate in softball bingo and kids 12 and under are invited to run the bases after the game.