CORVALLIS, Ore. – After anticipated inclement weather washed away the scheduled home opener for the Oregon State softball team, Laura Berg’s squad will now welcome Rutgers for a midweek on Tuesday evening.
The Beavers and Scarlet Knights will meet for the second time this season following a 3-0 Oregon State win during last month’s Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Cathedral City, California.
Following the game with Rutgers, the Beavers will be back on the road against Montana for a three-game set in Missoula. The weekend series will be the first meetings between the Beavers and Grizzlies.
All four games this week will be available on ESPN+.
By The Numbers
1: Oregon State will meet Montana for the first time this weekend.
4: Oregon State is 4-0 when scoring 9 or more runs this season.
8: Logan Hulon threw eight strikeouts against No. 12 Oregon in her last time out
8: The Beavers will look to win their eighth home opener in the Laura Berg era
19: Logan Hulon’s 19 looking strikeouts leads the WCC.
30: OSU scored 30 runs in two games on 2/8. The last time a Berg-led team did that same feat was in Feb. 2015.
114: Oregon State pitchers pace the WCC with 114 strikeouts.
The Opposition
• Rutgers will be the home-opening opponent for the Beavers in 2025.
• Last month, Morgan Howey’s three-run homer was the difference over Rutgers at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic.
• Oregon State will close the week with a three-game series at Montana in Missoula.
• OSU and Montana have never met before.
• Montana is led by an OSU alumna, Stef Ewing. She was a member of the program from 2006-09 and part of the team’s WCWS appearance in 2006. In the 2006 season as a freshman, she was named a NFCA All-Pacific Region honoree.
Series History
Rutgers
Overall (OSU, 3-0) • Streak (OSU, W3) • Under Berg (OSU, 2-0)
Montana
First Meetings
Home-Opening Notes
• Laura Berg’s squad will look to keep a winning streak in home openers alive.
• Dating back to the 2021, the Beavers are unbeaten in home openers.
• In the Berg era, Oregon State is 7-4 in the first game at Kelly Field. 2020 saw no home games.
• It is the second home opener on a March 18th – both in the Berg era. Back in 2017, the Beavs dropped a 6-2 decision to Arizona.
• This is the third latest home opener for a Berg-led squad: March 19, 2021 and March 22, 2019.
The Last Time Out
• Oregon State opened play in the beginning of the month in the Beaver State at the Jane Sanders Classic.
• In arguably their toughest weekend of the season (to date), the Beavers went .500 against #8 Florida State, #12 Oregon and Abilene Christian.
• The weekend was highlighted by a strong 5-2 win over the Ducks on Saturday afternoon. OSU shutout ACU, 9-0, but dropped both games to the Seminoles.
Atop The WCC
• OSU is all over the top (or at least near it) in the stats for the WCC.
• The Beavers’ pitching staff has thrown a league-leading 114 Ks, led by Hulon’s 72.
• With 6, Ellie Garcia leads the league with wins.
• Hulon (9, 78.0) and Garcia (6, 70.0) have the most complete games and innings pitched of any arms in the WCC.
• The Beavers’ .894 stolen base mark (17-for-19) is tops in the league.
• Jaeya Butler (7) and Nicole Donahue (5) sit second and fifth in doubles, respectively.
• Lici Campbell and Donahue pace the league in walks drawn with 18.
B1G Time
• Oregon State will bring a 2-0 record against teams from the Big Ten into the Rutgers matchup.
• Last week, the upset over Oregon marked the second win of the season against teams from the mainly-midwestern league.
• OSU defeated Rutgers in Cathedral City, Calif., by a 3-0 score last month.
• By season’s end, the Beavs will have five between the trio against Oregon and the two with Rutgers.
Welcome, Welcome!
• 18 new student-athletes joined the Oregon State program for the 2025 campaign.
• The new Beavs are from all over the country, spanning from Hawai’i (Donahue – Honolulu) to the New York City suburbs of New Jersey (Weir – Wayne, N.J.) and everywhere in between.
• Donahue is the first Beaver from Hawaii since the 2016 season.
WCC Accolades
• Campbell and Donahue were tabbed to the preseason all-conference team by the WCC.
• Oregon State was selected by the league’s coaches to finish third in the six-team conference.
Tough Tests in the Noncon Again
• The Beavers have faced tests against six teams in the initial top 25 of the 2025 season.
• Oregon State played #5 Tennessee, #12 Florida State (twice), #21 California and #24 Oregon in nonconference play.
• Two more matchups against the Ducks will come next month.
Beaver Staff Notes
• Familiar faces will be all over the Oregon State dugout in 2025.
• Entering her 13th year, Laura Berg will lead the Oregon State softball program.
• Marcie Green will direct the pitching staff for the second season of her second stint with the program. She ended her first with the trip to the Women’s College World Series in 2022.
• Working primarily with the fielders and hitters, Matt Lisle is on Berg’s staff for the second year. Lisle joined Oregon State following experience across college softball, baseball and even MLB’s Chicago White Sox.
• Starting his journey from student manager in 2018, Dominic Garcia enters his second year as a member of the coaching staff. The Beaver alumnus worked his way up to head student manager to video coordinator in 2023 and will oversee player development, technology and data.
• Entering her fourth year with the program is Sarah Hoechlin, who serves as the Director of Operations. The OSU alumna spent two years as a student manager before a stint with the Corvallis Knights.
Looking Ahead
• The Beavers will be on bye week following the action in Missoula.
• Following the break, Oregon State will welcome Oregon to resume the Rivalry Series in a midweek before opening league play against LMU at Kelly Field.
• The games against Oregon and LMU will be the front end of an eight-game homestand, which is the longest of the season.
OUR MISSIONOregon State Athletics strives to Build Excellent Authentic Visionary Student-Athletes (Go BEAVS)
