Action will begin Thursday afternoon when the team hosts Illinois State at noon, before turning their sites to No. 4 Florida on Friday. The weekend slate will continue Saturday with a 2 p.m. MST matchup against Central Michigan, before a Sunday doubleheader against Utah State and San Diego, set to begin at 1:30 p.m.
SUN DEVIL WEEKEND SCHEDULE...
Thursday - vs. Illinois State at Noon // Live stats // Live Stream
Friday - vs. Florida at 7:00 p.m. // Live Stats // Postgame Autographs with Freshman Class
Saturday - vs. Central Michigan at 2:00 p.m. // Live stats // Live stream// PINK GAME
Sunday - vs. Utah State at 1:30 p.m. // Live stats // Live stream // Sunday Funday ($1 Popcorn)
Sunday vs. San Diego at 4:00 p.m. // Live stats // Live stream /// Sunday Funday (Kids run the bases)
LEADING OFF...
• The Sun Devils kept their impressive streak of opening day wins alive last week, getting past Western Michigan, 8-4 in the 2019 season-opener. With the win, ASU has now won 23 of their last 24 season-openers, improving to 40-8 all-time in season openers.
• The Sun Devils will hit the field with a lot of confidence following an impressive opening weekend. In a look at the league standings, ASU leads the Pac-12 in team batting average (.395), slugging percentage (.731) and on base percentage (.523). The Sun Devils tie for first in RBI (46) and check-in in the top-three in total hits (47), home runs (8), total bases (87) and runs scored (51).
• With their 21 runs scored in a win over Weber State last week, ASU set a new program record for runs in a single game in Sun Devil history. Prior to Saturday's win, Arizona State had scored 20 or more runs just twice in program history 20-10 victory over UNLV in 2009, and a 20-0 victory over Stanford in 2015.
• The Sun Devils enter the 2019 season picked to finish fourth in the Pac-12 preseason poll. The fourth-place ranking in the coaches poll is the highest since 2018 Pac-12 Coach of the Year Trisha Ford arrived in Tempe. Last season, the Sun Devils fought their way to a 16-8 record in conference play, finishing third in the league standings. The Sun Devils were picked to finish sixth in the 2018 Coaches poll.
• With their No. 14 and No. 16 rankings in this week's polls, ASU has secured a spot in the national rankings each of the last 29 times they have been released. The last time the Sun Devils were not ranked was in the preseason poll prior to the 2017 season, when the squad was receiving votes.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION....
ILLINOIS STATE
The Redbirds will arrive in Tempe looking to get back on track following a frustrating opening weekend in South Florida. Illinois State opened the season with a pair of hard-fought loss to South Florida and NC State (2-1, 10-9), before getting run ruled, 15-0, by ASU's Friday night opponent Florida. The weekend ended for the Redbirds with losses to No. 7 Arizona and No. 19 Michigan (9-1, 11-4). Sophomore third baseman Andrea Coursey has led the team at the plate, going five-for-12 at the dish with a home run and two RBI on the young season. Senior infielder Allison Spence is not far behind with four-for-12 showing in south Florida last weekend.
Florida
The Sun Devils will receive a huge test in their Friday night matchup with No. 5 Florida. The Gators will make the trip out West riding high after posting a perfect 5-0 record through the first week of the season. The Gators allowed just five runs in their first weekend of games, while challenging themselves with games against No. 6/7 Arizona, and No. 14/19 Michigan in the slate of games. Sophomore catcher Danielle Romanello has led Florida at the plate through the first five games of the season, blasting a pair of home runs in her 15 at-bats. In the circle, Florida has three pitchers who have an ERA below 1.00, including senior right hander Kelly Barnhill who has been lights out in her 19 innings pitched so far in 2019.
Central Michigan
The Chippewas' season got off to a bumpy start last weekend at the College of Charleston Collegiate Classic. The 2019 campaign began with a doubleheader loss to Wichita State and Virginia Tech. The Central Michigan staff would regroup to pick up their first win of the season against Pitt, 11-6, but fell in their final game of the weekend, 3-1 to COC. The team is led at the dish so far this season by Shaidan Knapp who has combined to be six of 16 at the plate. Not far behind her is Erika Underwood who has hit at a .357 clip in her 14 at-bats. In the circle, the Chippewas has relied heavily on Samantha Howell and Kaitlyn Bean who have combined to throw 21 of the team's 32 innings through the opening weekend.
Utah State
The Aggies will continue the 2019 season in Tempe this weekend following a 1-4 showing last weekend at the Titan Classic. Utah State opened the season with a run-rule loss to Northwestern, before dropping a tightly contested game to Loyola Marymount. The Aggies secured their first win of the year over Pacific, but ended the weekend with back-to-back loses to Cal State Fullerton and Louisville.
San Diego
The Toreros will arrive in Tempe looking to improve on their 2-3 record from the opening weekend. San Diego started the season with a loss to Marshall (10-1) before topping Portland State, 3-2. Following three-straight losses, San Diego capped the opening weekend of the season with a 6-1 win over UC Riverside. Senior Taylor Spence has produced at the plate so far this season for USD, going eight-for-20 with four runs scored in the first six games of the season. In the circle, the Toreros have been solid, entering weekend two with a very respectable 1.71 team ERA.
WHATS NEXT...
Following this weekend's Littlewood Classic, the Sun Devils will hit the road to compete in the 2019 Marry Nutter Collegiate Classic in Cathedral City, Calif, Feb. 21-24. The Weekend slate will begin with a doubleheader against Oklahoma State and Texas Tech on the 21st, before facing Nebraska and Texas A&M on the 22nd. The Sun Devils will close out the road-trip with games against Bethune Cookman on Feb. 23rd, and Cal Poly on Feb. 24th.
Fans can stay up to date with the Sun Devil softball team all season long by following @SunDevilSoftball on Twitter.