OSU SB: Beavs

May 6, 2024 News, Oregon Ducks Softball

CORVALLIS, Ore. – With the regular season behind Oregon State, they will return to the Bay Area to open action in Stanford for the second annual Pac-12 Softball Tournament on Wednesday against Arizona State in the First Round.

Opponent                                           Day/Time                                            Stream

No. 9 Arizona State                          May 8 / 7 p.m.                                   Pac-12 Networks

Leading Off

  • The Beavers will open their run at the Pac-12 Tournament against Arizona State.
  • Oregon State is looking for its first win in the Pac-12 Tournament after falling 1-0 to Washington in the quarterfinals of the inaugural event last year.
  • The last time the Beavers played on The Farm in the postseason, they swept Stanford in the Super Regionals to punch their ticket to the ’22 WCWS.

By the Numbers

2: OSU had two – Madi Simon (Puerto Rico; silver) and Grace Messmer (Canada; bronze) – medal in the fall’s Pan-American games in Chile.

2: Oregon State is making its second appearance in the Pac-12 Tournament.

3: The Beavers are looking to win their third consecutive postseason game on The Farm. 

5: Oregon State will play in its fifth California locale this season. Earlier, the Beavs played in Fresno, Cathedral City, Fullerton and Berkeley.

5: Lici Campbell’s career-high five RBI in the finale helped the Beavs win over No. 19 California in the series finale.

6: OSU has six top 25 wins since last April. Wins have come over No. 8 Stanford, No. 9 Washington, No. 12 UCLA, No. 19 California, No. 20 Oregon and No. 21 Arizona. 

7: The Beavers and Sun Devils will meet for the seventh time in just over 53 weeks (5/5-7/23, 3/15-17/24).

The Opposition

  • OSU and Arizona State will meet for the 133rd time in a series that dates back to 1977, the third year of the program.
  • Arizona State is coming off a home series against UCLA in which the Bruins took all three.
  • In the regular season, the Beavers clinched the series from the Sun Devils in Tempe by taking the first two.
  • Lici Campbell and Eliana Gottlieb’s late solo homers helped the Beavs pull away in the opener by a 5-3 score.
  • With two outs and trailing by one, the Beavs exploded for 6 runs in the 7th for a 10-5 win to claim the series.
  • This will be the seventh meeting between these sides in just over a calendar years’ time. In that stretch, OSU holds a 4-2 mark over the Sun Devils.
  • Oregon State took the series by a 2-1 margin in last season’s series, which took place before the inaugural Pac-12 Tournament in Tucson.

Pac-12 Tournament Time

·         OSU will venture to the other side of the Bay Area from Berkeley to The Farm after the regular season finale for the second edition of the tournament.

·         Washington used a solo homer to defeat the Beavers, 1-0, in last year’s Pac-12 Tournament quarterfinal in Tucson

Round Tripper Tidbits

·         Oregon State improved to 4-0 on the season when they hit at least two home runs following Sunday’s win.

·         Both Madi Simon (6th inning) and Lici Campbell (7th inning [walkoff]) launched (two-run) homers over the left field wall to help push the Beavers to the win over the Cardinal. 

  • All four of these instances have happened in Pac-12 play (3/8 v. Arizona (game 1), 3/15 at Arizona State, 3/16 at Arizona State and 4/14 vs. Stanford)

·         Campbell slugged two two-run homers in a four at-bat stretch (4/14 vs. STAN, 4/19 at ORE)

Made ‘Em Look

·         OSU was the only team in the Pac-12 with three pitchers record at least 21 looking strikeouts.

·         Hulon leads the staff with 25 punchouts while Haendiges follows with 24 and Garcia rounds it out with 21.

Top of the Pac for Logan

• At the conclusion of her first season in orange and black, Hulon found herself in the upper portion of the Pac-12 in numerous categories.

·         10th in strikeouts – entire season (89)

·         9th in strikeouts – Pac-12 games (44)

·         8th in strikeouts looking (25)

·         6th in strikeouts looking – Pac-12 games (14)

·         10th in innings pitched – Pac-12 games (58.1)

·         9th in opposing batting average – Pac-12 games (.253)

·         4th in catching runners stealing (7)

Beaver Staff Notes

• Beaver fans will see a mix of familiar and new faces inside the dugout this season.

• Marcie Green makes her return to Oregon State where she will lead the pitching staff. She was previously in Corvallis from 2013-2022 where she capped it off with a trip to the Women’s College World Series in her final season.

• Working primarily with the fielders and hitters, Matt Lisle joins Berg’s staff with years of experience in college softball, baseball and even Major League Baseball.

• Starting his journey from student manager in 2018, Dominic Garcia enters his first year as a member of the coaching staff. The Beaver alumnus worked his way up to head student manager to video coordinator last season and will oversee player development, technology and data.

• Entering her third 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.

Softball America Accolades

• Kiki Escobar was tabbed by the publication as the sixth-best second baseman in their preseason rankings.

• In their Top 100 List, she was ranked 95th while Sarah Haendiges placed a few spots ahead at 87th.

OUR MISSION
Oregon State Athletics strives to Build Excellent Authentic Visionary Student-Athletes (Go BEAVS)