TEMPE- For the second season in a row, the path to Oklahoma City for the Women's College World Series will go through Farrington Stadium. No. 8 seed Sun Devil Softball will begin their post-season Friday at 7:30 pm MST against Cal State Fullerton on ESPN+.
Arizona State (39-9, 20-4 Pac-12) hosts San Diego State (37-14), Cal State Fullerton (36-20) and LSU (34-21) in the 2022 Tempe Regional.
Sun Devil Softball has faced each of the three other Tempe Regional teams in the postseason throughout program history. The Sun Devils hosted Cal State Fullerton in 2009 for the Tempe Regional, where ASU defeated them 7-0. That same year, LSU traveled to Tempe for their Regional appearance in which the maroon and gold won both games against the Tigers. Overall, the Sun Devils lead the series 7-2 with all games coming in the postseason. ASU also hosted and beat San Diego State in 2011 for the Tempe Regional 6-1 on their way to the 2011 WCWS Championship.
This is also the 17th consecutive season where the Sun Devils have a postseason appearance and the third time under head coach Trisha Ford where they will host a regional, the last time in 2021 when the Sun Devils fell short to BYU. The time prior to last year was in 2018 when that team went on to compete as one of the eight teams in OKC.
Regionals will be held May 20-22 on 16 campus sites. At each campus site, a four-team, double-elimination tournament will be conducted and the 16 winning teams advance to the Super Regionals.
Super Regionals for the tournament will be held May 26-29 on eight campus sites. At each site, two teams play in a best-of-three tournament format. The winners from each site advance to the NCAA Women's College World Series. The WCWS is held in Oklahoma City from June 2-June 9/10.
THE RESUME
The Sun Devils opened up their nonconference slate hosting two tournaments at Farrington Stadium, the Kajikawa Classic and the Sun Devil Classic. Throughout that period, ASU went 7-3 and they picked up wins over NCAA teams Duke, No. 12 seed, and Minnesota, another at-large bid in this year's tournament.
Arizona State then went on the road for the next two weekends to play in the University of Texas Tournament and the Judi Garman Classic where the Sun Devils dropped just two games during that eight game stretch on the road.
After picking up a win against Texas A&M on March 6, the foot was on the gas for the Sun Devils as they went on a 20-game winning streak to finish out non-conference play and begin Pac-12 conference play with a 12-0 start.
Against Stanford, ASU suffered its only conference series loss of the season but Trisha Ford picked up her 200th career victory as a Sun Devil in a win in the series against the Cardinal.
The final two series of the season at Farrington came against Cal and UCLA, where ASU won both of those series where it run-ruled Cal in two games and outscored them 31-8 in those matchups. The next weekend ASU went against the Bruins of UCLA where it won its first game over UCLA since the 2015 season.
Last weekend, the Sun Devils traveled to Seattle to take on UW where they took the series from the Huskies, who are the No. 13 seed in this year's postseason to win the Pac-12 title outright. The 20 wins in Pac-12 conference play for the Sun Devils is the most in program history and made the Maroon and Gold regular season conference champions for the first time since 2011.
ASU spent all season ranked in the top-25 of the USA Today/NFCA poll and have climbed as high as No. 4 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll, happening just this past week.
Many Sun Devils have received recognition for their play throughout the regular season as Cydney Sanders was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week last week for the third time of the season on Monday after her performance in Seattle and was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, the All-Freshman team and the Pac-12's All-Conference first team after her breakout season. After pitching two of the three games against then-No. 4 UCLA, Lindsay Lopez was named Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week and she was also named to the Pac-12's All-Conference first team. Yanni Acuña and Alynah Torres were also named to All-Conference first team as the two of them are a part of five ASU batters to reach double figures in home runs. Being awarded on the second team and third team were Marissa Schuld, Jaz Hill, Jazmyn Rollin and Mac Morgan.
The NFCA announced that Lopez, Sanders, Acuña and Hill were all named to Division I West All-Region First Team while Torres was named to Second Team.
Acuña and graduate thirdbaseman Bella Loomis were named to the CoSIDA NCAA Division I District 8 All-American Academic Team.
TOP 16 SEEDS
1. Oklahoma
2. Florida State
3. Virginia Tech
4. Arkansas
5. UCLA
6. Alabama
7. Oklahoma State
8. Arizona State
9. Northwestern
10. Clemson
11. Tennessee
12. Duke
13. Washington
14. Florida
15. Missouri
16. Central Florida
TEMPE REGIONAL SCHEDULE
Friday, May 20, 2022
Game 1 – 5:00pm - San Diego State v. LSU
Game 2 – 7:30pm - ASU v. Cal State Fullerton
Saturday, May 21, 2022
Game 3 – 2:00 p.m.- Between Game 1 and Game 2 Winners
Game 4 – 4:30 p.m.- Between Game 1 and Game 2 Losers
Game 5 – 7:00 p.m.- Between Game 4 Winner and Game 3 Loser
Sunday, May 22, 2022
Game 6 – 3:00 p.m.- Between Game 3 Winner and Game 5 Winner
Game 7 (if necessary) – 5:30 p.m.
STRAIGHT FACTS
Arizona State (39-9, 20-4 Pac-12) hosts San Diego State (37-14), Cal State Fullerton (36-20) and LSU (34-21) in the 2022 Tempe Regional.
Sun Devil Softball has faced each of the three other Tempe Regional teams in the postseason throughout program history. The Sun Devils hosted Cal State Fullerton in 2009 for the Tempe Regional, where ASU defeated them 7-0. That same year, LSU traveled to Tempe for their Regional appearance in which the maroon and gold won both games against the Tigers. Overall, the Sun Devils lead the series 7-2 with all games coming in the postseason. ASU also hosted and beat San Diego State in 2011 for the Tempe Regional 6-1 on their way to the 2011 WCWS Championship.
This is also the 17th consecutive season where the Sun Devils have a postseason appearance and the third time under head coach Trisha Ford where they will host a regional, the last time in 2021 when the Sun Devils fell short to BYU. The time prior to last year was in 2018 when that team went on to compete as one of the eight teams in OKC.
Regionals will be held May 20-22 on 16 campus sites. At each campus site, a four-team, double-elimination tournament will be conducted and the 16 winning teams advance to the Super Regionals.
Super Regionals for the tournament will be held May 26-29 on eight campus sites. At each site, two teams play in a best-of-three tournament format. The winners from each site advance to the NCAA Women's College World Series. The WCWS is held in Oklahoma City from June 2-June 9/10.
THE RESUME
The Sun Devils opened up their nonconference slate hosting two tournaments at Farrington Stadium, the Kajikawa Classic and the Sun Devil Classic. Throughout that period, ASU went 7-3 and they picked up wins over NCAA teams Duke, No. 12 seed, and Minnesota, another at-large bid in this year's tournament.
Arizona State then went on the road for the next two weekends to play in the University of Texas Tournament and the Judi Garman Classic where the Sun Devils dropped just two games during that eight game stretch on the road.
After picking up a win against Texas A&M on March 6, the foot was on the gas for the Sun Devils as they went on a 20-game winning streak to finish out non-conference play and begin Pac-12 conference play with a 12-0 start.
Against Stanford, ASU suffered its only conference series loss of the season but Trisha Ford picked up her 200th career victory as a Sun Devil in a win in the series against the Cardinal.
The final two series of the season at Farrington came against Cal and UCLA, where ASU won both of those series where it run-ruled Cal in two games and outscored them 31-8 in those matchups. The next weekend ASU went against the Bruins of UCLA where it won its first game over UCLA since the 2015 season.
Last weekend, the Sun Devils traveled to Seattle to take on UW where they took the series from the Huskies, who are the No. 13 seed in this year's postseason to win the Pac-12 title outright. The 20 wins in Pac-12 conference play for the Sun Devils is the most in program history and made the Maroon and Gold regular season conference champions for the first time since 2011.
ASU spent all season ranked in the top-25 of the USA Today/NFCA poll and have climbed as high as No. 4 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll, happening just this past week.
Many Sun Devils have received recognition for their play throughout the regular season as Cydney Sanders was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week last week for the third time of the season on Monday after her performance in Seattle and was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, the All-Freshman team and the Pac-12's All-Conference first team after her breakout season. After pitching two of the three games against then-No. 4 UCLA, Lindsay Lopez was named Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week and she was also named to the Pac-12's All-Conference first team. Yanni Acuña and Alynah Torres were also named to All-Conference first team as the two of them are a part of five ASU batters to reach double figures in home runs. Being awarded on the second team and third team were Marissa Schuld, Jaz Hill, Jazmyn Rollin and Mac Morgan.
The NFCA announced that Lopez, Sanders, Acuña and Hill were all named to Division I West All-Region First Team while Torres was named to Second Team.
Acuña and graduate thirdbaseman Bella Loomis were named to the CoSIDA NCAA Division I District 8 All-American Academic Team.
TOP 16 SEEDS
1. Oklahoma
2. Florida State
3. Virginia Tech
4. Arkansas
5. UCLA
6. Alabama
7. Oklahoma State
8. Arizona State
9. Northwestern
10. Clemson
11. Tennessee
12. Duke
13. Washington
14. Florida
15. Missouri
16. Central Florida
TEMPE REGIONAL SCHEDULE
Friday, May 20, 2022
Game 1 – 5:00pm - San Diego State v. LSU
Game 2 – 7:30pm - ASU v. Cal State Fullerton
Saturday, May 21, 2022
Game 3 – 2:00 p.m.- Between Game 1 and Game 2 Winners
Game 4 – 4:30 p.m.- Between Game 1 and Game 2 Losers
Game 5 – 7:00 p.m.- Between Game 4 Winner and Game 3 Loser
Sunday, May 22, 2022
Game 6 – 3:00 p.m.- Between Game 3 Winner and Game 5 Winner
Game 7 (if necessary) – 5:30 p.m.
STRAIGHT FACTS
- Five Sun Devils have 10 or more home runs on the season. (Yanni Acuña, Jazmine Hill, Alynah Torres, Jazmyn Rollin and Cydney Sanders).
- ASU is 4th in the nation in home runs per game with an average of 1.96 per game.
- The Sun Devils are sixth in the nation in team on-base percentage (.427) and are fourth in team slugging percentage (.627), as that stat is first in the Pac-12.
- ASU is first in the Pac-12 in on-base percentage, in home runs (89) and are tied for first in hits (422).
- Sanders and Acuña are 2nd and 4th, respectively, in the Pac-12 in batting average. Acuna is first in the conference in on-base percentage and Sanders is second in the Pac-12.
- True freshman Cydney Sanders leads the Sun Devils with 20 home runs, which ties for the most in a season in program history. She also leads the team with 61 RBIs and her slugging percentage of .977 is first in the conference and is third in the country. Additionally in her freshman campaign, she has been named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week three times.
- In the circle, Lindsay Lopez leads the Sun Devils with a 1.75 ERA and is second on the team in strikeouts with 70 with her 12 wins. Senior Marissa Schuld leads the team in strikeouts with 85 while Mac Morgan leads the team in wins with 16.
- Yanni Acuña and Cydney Sanders to USA Softball's Top 25 Finalist List for the 2022 College Player of the Year.