2013 Softball World Series Seattle Regional Breakdown
#11 Washington, Minnesota, Hawaii, Portland State
Just how good was the Pac-12 in softball this year? Consider that three of the 16 seeds are from the conference and there is other representation from this league. The Huskies are the lowest of the three seeds in the tournament from the Pac-12 and carry a 38-15 record into the tournament. Washington enters the tournament having lost to California by one run, 3-2, in the regular-season finale, and the Huskies’ other losses have come against teams like Stanford, Utah, Oregon, Michigan and Texas. Washington played Hawaii twice this season at the Paradise Softball Classic and split its games, with a 5-2 loss and 3-1 win. Washington is just outside the top 25 in batting average (.313), but pitcher Kaitlin Inglesby also wields a fairly hot bat. She finished the season with a 21-7 overall record and three hits in three trips to the plate in the California game.
Portland State (25-29) won the Big Sky championship for the third year in a row, led by the hot bat of Brittany Hendrickson (.354-9-42). The team’s batting average plummets from there, however, and it is hard to believe that Portland State will last past a date with Washington and a second loss in double-elimination play. Still, stranger things have happened. Minnesota is in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2003 thanks to a strong performance at the Big Ten tournament, and it has a 35-17 overall record and 13-7 mark on neutral turf. Kaitlyn Richardson and Tyler Walker possess strong bats, but Sara Moulton has carried this team in the pitchers circle. Not many will argue with a 31-10 record, 1.53 ERA and 279 strikeouts. Hawaii won the Big West Conference title, and Kelly Majam, Leisha Li’ili’I, Kayla Wartner and Sharla Kleibenstein have double-digit homer power so that 43-11 record could spoil a lot of teams’ playoff hopes.
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