Softball Games of the Week (4/10 – 4/14)
#8 California vs #19 UCLA Thurs, Fri & Sat (4/11 8pm, 4/12 7pm, 4/13 1pm PT, Los Angeles, CA)
Cal is 30-6. The Golden Bears have lost three of those six in their last four games. At 6-3 in conference play, Cal sits fourth in the Pac-12 behind Oregon, Arizona State and Washington, with the Sun Devils and Huskies still on the schedule. Jolene Henderson is 24-5 in the circle for Cal with a 1.28 ERA. She has thrown 208 of her teams 243 innings. Lindsey Ziegenhirt has hit 14 home runs and is hitting a team high .368. Cal is hitting just .282 as a team. Uncharacteristically, UCLA is hitting below .300 as a team, down now to .295. The Bruins do have 35 home runs from their top three hitters. B.B. Bates has 15 bombs to go along with her .342 average. Pitcher Ally Carda has 11 long balls and is hitting .346. Stephany LaRosa is hitting .375 with nine homers. The Bruins pitching staff has a 2.46 ERA. Carda has had 50 percent of UCLA’s innings. She is 17-6 with a 2.46 ERA. Jessica Hall is 4-5 with a 2.95 ERA. Cal swept last season’s three games at home. Expect a competitive series, but UCLA will need to figure out Henderson to win the series.
#2 Florida vs #17 Kentucky Fri, Sat & Sun (4/12 6pm, 4/13 1pm & 4/14 12pm ET, Lexington, KY)
Last season Kentucky upset the Gators winning the first and last games of the series behind the pitching of senior Chanda Bell. Florida is 38-4 and sits atop the SEC East at 12-3 with just three conference series remaining, including the Kentucky series. With Georgia and South Carolina remaining, the Gators are in great position to win the SEC regular season. Kelsey Stewart and Lauren Haeger lead the team, hitting .373 and .333 respectively. Haeger has 12 home runs. Hannah Rogers does most of the heavy lifting for Coach Walton’s crew, tossing 160.1 of the 282.2 innings. She has a 1.31 ERA with 158 strikeouts. Kentucky is 27-10 and 8-4 in the SEC. The Wildcats are hitting .268 as a team, led by Nikki Sagermann’s .375 average. Kelsey Nunley is the Wildcat ace at 17-4 with a 2.09 ERA. Lauren Cumbess is 7-3 with a 2.78 ERA in around 30 percent of Kentucky’s innings. Both Nunley and Cumbess will need to be at their best to slow down the Gators.
#3 Arizona State vs #16 Washington Fri, Sat & Sun (4/12 5pm, 4/13 7pm & 4/14 12pm, PT, Tempe, AZ)
The Sun Devils are 36-4 and 7-2 in Pac-12 play. Arizona State swept the Huskies in Seattle last season. Arizona State is 28-1 at home in 2013. Seven of their offensive regulars are hitting over .320. The number two and three hitters in the order, Cheyenne Coyle and Amber Freeman, have 14 and 13 homers respectively. Both Dallas Escobedo and Mackenzie Popescue have been solid in the circle for Coach Myers. Escobedo is 19-4 with a 2.24 ERA. Popescue is 16-0 with a 1.19 ERA. Washington will have their hands full with those two. The Huskies are 31-10 and 9-3 in the league. Hooch Fagaly (.387) and Victoria Hayward (.403) set the pace on a team hitting .324. Bryana Walker and Kaitlin Inglesby have shared the majority of the innings this season. Walker is 13-5. Inglesby is 16-4 with a 1.50 ERA. Arizona State sits second in the Pac-12 standings while Washington is third. The loser of the series will have a difficult time catching Oregon and winning the regular season title.
#7 Oregon vs #22 Arizona Fri, Sat & Sun (4/12 5pm, 4/13 2pm & 4/14 12pm PT, Eugene OR)
The Ducks lead the Pac-12 standings at 10-2 after taking two from Cal last weekend. Oregon is 33-6 overall. Coach White’s team continues to get better at all phases of the game. The squad is hitting .343 collectively, with 55 homers in 39 games. They are slugging .549 with a .402 on-base percentage. Alexa Peterson hits .466 with seven bombs. Kailee Cuico and Kaylan Howard both have 12 taters. In the circle the staff is remarkably consistent, with a group ERA of 1.47. Jessica Moore and Cheridan Hawkins have done most of the duty. Moore is 17-3 posting a 1.42 ERA. Hawkins is 13-3 with a 1.46 in ERA. Oregon will be a tough opponent for Arizona on the road. Arizona is having a relatively down year in contrast to the up-and-coming Ducks. The Wildcats are 26-13 and 4-5 in the conference. They are hitting .313 with 41 homers in 39 games. Chelsea Goodacre has launched 13 long balls while Lauren Young has 10. But more importantly, the Wildcat pitching staff has an uncharacteristically high 3.54 ERA. Shelby Babcock is 13-5 with a 3.18 ERA and transfer Estela Pinon is 9-4 with a 3.75 ERA. Coach Candrea’s squad will need to get to Oregon’s Moore early and often to have a chance to get a game from the Ducks.
#10 Texas A&M vs #14 LSU Fri, Sat & Sun (4/12 7pm, 4/13 4pm & 4/14 12:30pm CT, College Station, TX)
The Aggies are 31-7 and 5-6 in their first year in the SEC. After an outstanding start the Ags ran into the buzz saw that is the SEC, facing Tennessee and Alabama on successive weekends with LSU at home up next. Nicole Morgan has blossomed into Coach Evan’s best hitter this season, leading the team in average, hits, HR’s, RBI, slugging, walks and on-base percentage. Cali Lanphear has 12 bombs and Megan May has 10. Mel Dumezich has thrown two-thirds of A&M’s innings going 22-5 with a 1.87 ERA. A&M’s big hitters will need to be at their best when facing the stellar LSU pitchers. The Bengal Tigers are 33-8 and 9-3, leading the SEC West. Rachael Fico is one of the nation’s best pitchers at 20-6 with a 1.80 ERA. She has 185 strikeouts in just under 160 innings. Fico has help in the circle but, if A&M can chase her from the game, LSU will have little chance to win. On the offensive end, LSU is much improved over last season, hitting .292 as a team. Last year they hit .220 and just 13 long balls all season. The Tigers have already scored more runs in 41 games this season than they scored in 2012. LSU got the best of the Ags in two low scoring close games last May at the College Station Regional.
#20 Nebraska vs #25 Wisconsin Fri, Sat & Sun (4/12 6pm, 4/13 1pm & 4/14 12pm CT, Lincoln, NE)
Nebraska is 28-8 and 6-2 in the Big Ten. They are also one of the two teams that has stopped the powerful Oklahoma lineup and beat them. Freshman Emily Lockman slowed the Sooners. Lockman is 11-2 with a 1.35 ERA in 93 innings. Tatum Edwards has thrown over half of Nebraska’s innings. She is 17-6 with a 2.04 ERA. The Cornhuskers are hitting .292. Taylor Edwards has eight home runs. Brooke Thomason has the highest average on the team (.368) and has five homers. Wisconsin is 28-6 and 6-3 in the conference. The Badgers have wins over Notre Dame, Stanford and North Carolina. Wisconsin boasts a .324 team batting average. Mary Massei tops her teammates hitting .445 while Maria Van Abel is at .405. The Badgers are not full of power, but Whitney Massey and Shannel Blackshear each have seven home runs. Cassandra Darrah leads the Badgers in the circle at 16-4 with a 1.74 ERA. In 2012, Nebraska took the series, winning two of the three at home.
