Beavers Bound for Tuscaloosa Regional

REWIND
• Oregon State heads to the NCAA Softball Championship Tuscaloosa Regional this weekend after needing two wins at Utah and getting both wins for a postseason berth
• The Beavers made comebacks in both games taking the first game 9-5 on Thursday night
• Sitting at .500 and needing two wins for a shot at the postseason the Beavers got two hits each from McKenna Arriola, Shelby Weeks, Alysha Everett, Hope Brandner, Camryn Ybarra and Jessica Garcia enroute to a series opening win
• Ybarra tallied two doubles
• Brandner contributed 3 RBI on two singles pushing her team-leading total to 34 RBI
• Everett added two RBI on her fourth homer of the season
• Weeks and Kayleen Shafer had two stolen bases each
• Junior Meehra Nelson started in the circle throwing 6.1 innings in the win while fanning four batters
• Game 2 featured a fifth inning rally in what proved to be a swing game in the series as the third and final game of the series was cancelled due to weather
• Trailing 6-5 heading to the fifth inning the Beavers put up three runs leading 8-6, and eventually winning 8-7 securing the series a winning record for the season
• The Beavers got RBIs in the fifth from Michelle Sass, Shafer and Garcia for the win
• Freshman Brandner had a day at the plate going 3-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored. She grew the Beavers 1-0 lead with a two-run bomb in the third inning
• Ybarra hit her third double in two games in a 2-for-4 effort at the plate with two runs scored
• Meehra Nelson picked up her second win on the weekend in a relief effort tossing 3.2 inning giving up just one hit and one earned run
• Following the weekend it was revealed that the Beavers would be heading to the University of Alabama for the Tuscaloosa Regional as the No. 2 seed in the regional.

UPCOMING
• The Beavers take to the skies and head East to Tuscaloosa, Alabama for the NCAA Regionals for the third-straight year
• Oregon State battles the Wisconsin Badgers (28-21, 11-9 Big 10) in the opening game on Friday evening at 4 p.m. PT
• The Beavers hold an 8-1 all-time record against the Badgers, and are 2-0 over the Red & White under the direction of Head Coach Laura Berg
• The two teams last met on March 5, 2016 when OSU won a 3-1 decision at the Judi Garman Classic
• The Host and No. 1 seed Alabama enters Regionals ranked No. 13 in both major polls and holds a record of 33-18, 12-12 SEC
• The Crimson Tide will battle the Blue Raiders of Middle Tennessee (39-20, 11-11 CUSA) in the other first round game Friday night following the Beavers vs. Badgers
• Oregon State has played Alabama twice and is 1-1 against the Crimson Tide, while the Beavers have never faced Middle Tennessee

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Friday, May 18
Game 1: Wisconsin vs Oregon State - 4 p.m. PT
Rhoads Softball Stadium, Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Game 2: Middle Tennessee vs Alabama - 6:30 p.m. PT
Rhoads Softball Stadium, Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Saturday, May 19
Game 3: Winner Game 1 vs Winner Game 2 - 11:30 a.m. PT
Game 4: Loser Game 1 vs Loser Game 2 - 2 p.m. PT
Game 5: Winner Game 4 vs Loser Game 3 - 4:30 p.m. PT

Sunday, May 20
Game 6: Winner Game 3 vs Winner Game 5 - 11:30 a.m. PT
Game 7 (If Necessary) Winner Game 6 vs Loser Game 6 - 2 p.m. PT

FOLLOW THE BEAVS
• Oregon State's contests this week will be broadcast by ESPN 3; live stats will be available through Statbroadcast.com
• Links to live stats will be available on softball schedule page at OSUBeavers.com

BEAVERS IMPRESSIONS
• Upperclassmen lead the way as McKenna Arriola, Alysha Everett and Jessica Garcia have started every game in 2018, with Meehra Nelson and Mariah Mazon anchoring the rotation
• Shelby Weeks has started in every game she has appeared in (49)
• Catcher Kayleen Shafer has made 45 starts
• Camryn Ybarra has played in 51 games as a true freshman and started 49 of those. She hit her first career homerun at No. 4 UCLA on March. 26 and followed that up in the next game with a solo shot against No. 2/5 Oregon
• Weeks has showcased her speed on the base paths with the team-leading and fifth-most stolen bases in the Pac-12 (17); she needs one more stolen base to tie the single-season record at OSU (18)
• Weeks was most recently joined by Arriola as the only players to reach every bag from the batter's box this season with at least one single, double, triple, and home run
• Garcia has started every game in center field but one (53) and holds the third-most stolen bases for the Beavers (9)
• Five true freshman have seen extended action on the field for Oregon State, one of which has started in every game
• Missy Nunes has started all 54 games in her freshman season with 49 starts at third base. Her last five starts came at shortstop; Nunes was recently named to the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team
• Freshman Hope Brandner leads the Beavers in multiple categories: Home Runs (11), RBI (34), Slugging Percentage (.533) and Fielding Percentage (.982)
• Brandner holds the season-long hitting streak for the Beavers at 11 games, currently on a two-game streak; and also holds the most multiple RBI games this season with 8; 2 RBI (2), 3 RBI (3), 4 RBI (3)
• Nelson owns 377 career strikeouts with 108 on the year so far; she ranks 6th in OSU history in career strikeouts
• Meehra Nelson has pitched her way to the top of the rotation for the Beavers, Nelson leads OSU in ERA (2.50), Wins (15), Shutouts (4), Earned Runs (48), Opposing Batting Average (.225)
• Mazon won her first collegiate game in her first start against ranked Oklahoma State and grabbed another win against a top-10 opponent (Arizona State) this season
• Mazon leads the OSU pitching crew in Appearances (36), Starts (24), Complete Games (16), Saves (5), Innings Pitched (181.0), and Strikeouts (132)
• Mazon set the Oregon State record for innings pitched in a single game on April 8th against Arizona State (15.0 IP), breaking a 33 year old record set back in 1985
• Freshman Nunes has played a pivotal role in her inaugural season; Nunes is batting .262 with the second-most doubles (8) and home runs (6) and slugging percentage (.436) on the team
• Nunes won her first Pac-12 Conference weekly honor following a breakout weekend at Stanford on April 13-15. She batted .889 going 8-for-9 at the plate. She had two doubles, two home runs, seven RBI and slugged for 1.778 with no strikeouts
• Ybarra has started 49 games at second base and is hitting .226 with 11 walks, 13 RBI, 13 runs scored, five doubles and two home runs
• Kayleen Shafer has started 45 games behind the plate and has thrown out a conference-leading 12 runners attempting to steal
• Shafer threw out eight base runners as a sophomore in 2017 and gunned down nine as a freshman in 2016
• Michelle Sass has seen time split between right field, second base, and most recently left field; Sass is batting .253 with 16 runs scored, two doubles, two homers and 10 RBI
• OSU is ranked No. 24 in the RPI; the Beavers sat as high as 15th this season
• The Beavers hold a 7-19 record versus ranked opponents this season with wins against Oklahoma State, California, BYU, and Oregon, and Arizona State
• OSU beat rival Oregon for the first time since March of 2012 with a thrilling 4-3 walk-off win on March 30th.

2018 SCHEDULE NOTES
• The non-conference portion of Oregon State's 2018 schedule featured a gauntlet of games over the course of five tournaments and five non-conference games
• OSU opened the year with the Kajikawa Classic where four opponents made an appearance in the 2018 NCAA Regionals: Oklahoma State, BYU, Georgia and Missouri
• The Purple and Gold Challenge in Baton Rouge, La., featured 2017 WCWS participant LSU along with 2017 NCAA Regional foe Louisiana Tech
• The Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic had 2017 NCAA Super Regional foes Tennessee and Auburn along with Oklahoma State again
• The San Diego Classic featured 2017 NCAA Regional participant Minnesota, while OSU wraps up the non-conference schedule against 2017 defending national champion Oklahoma
• The conference portion featured seven opponents that made varying finishes in the 2017 NCAA Tournament
• Cal and Arizona State both made the regionals
• Arizona and Utah both ended 2017 in the super regionals
• Oregon, UCLA and Washington all made the WCWS
• In total, Oregon State faced 17 opponents from the 2017 NCAA Tournament
• Currently, 14 of Oregon State's opponents are ranked inside the top-25 of the NCAA RPI
• Six of those 14 teams are inside the top-10
• Oregon State currently ranks No. 3 in Strength of Schedule in the NCAA, but spent the majority of the final weeks of the season at No. 1
• The Beavers have:
   -    1 Win vs. Top 5
   -    2 Wins vs. Top 10
   -    7 Wins vs. Top 25
   -    23 Games vs. Top 25 Opponents

NCAA TOURNAMENT
• The 2018 season marks the fourth time, and third-straight, the Beavers reached the NCAA Tournament under the direction of head coach Laura Berg, as well as the 13th time in program history
• The Beavers are 28-24 all time in their 12 tournament appearances following the losses to JMU and Kent State last season
• The last time OSU won a regional was in 2006 when it played Nevada and No. 19 Baylor twice. Oregon State went on to play in the Women's College World Series that year
• Oregon State also reached the NCAAs in 2016 and in 2013 — Berg's first year as head coach
• Coach Berg holds a 1-5 record as the leader in the postseason with her lone win in 2013 against Stony Brook at the Columbia, Mo., Regional.
• The Beavers also reached the tournament in Berg's first year as an assistant coach in 2012. Before 2012, OSU had not reached the tournament since 2007
• Berg and former head coach Kirk Walker (1995-2012) are the only head coaches in program history to reach the NCAA Tournament

BEAVERS WITHOUT BORDERS
• Beavers without Borders is a program that offers global service-learning experiences for student-athletes
• The program has completed six service projects in Guatemala, Macedonia, Ethiopia and the Dominican Republic
• McKenna Arriola went to Costa Rica in June for seven days. This is the first time OSU will have a project in Costa Rica
• Kayleen Shafer and Michelle Sass visited the Dominican Republic in August for 10 days - will be OSU's fifth year there

COACHING PROFILES
• Head Coach Laura Berg hung up her cleats after nearly 20-years of playing softball and spent a year with the LAPD in 2010-11 before returning to the game as an assistant coach for the 2012 season at Oregon State
• Associate head coach Marcie Green also has experience with law enforcement. Green studied criminology at Fresno State and spent five years as a prison guard at Corcoran State Prison in California following graduation before starting coaching
• Assistant coach Adam DeRusha joins the 2018 squad after spending the past two years as a graduate assistant at LSU and spending two years at Florida when the Gators were crowned national champions in 2014 and 2015
• Volunteer assistant coach Mikiah Smith is back for his 11th season, while Director of Operations Heather Smith is back for her 17th season

BERG NAMED HEAD COACH OF WNT
• Head Coach Laura Berg will continue her legacy with the USA National Softball team, but this time with the Women's National Team
• Head coach Berg led the 2017 Junior Women's National Team and led the 17-player roster this past summer to a gold medal
• Berg has prior experience with the juniors, being an assistant coach in 2012. Since then, she has helped train the national team

SOCIAL MEDIA
• Follow the Oregon State softball team on Twitter and Instagram at @BeaverSoftball and Facebook at /BeaverSoftball.

WORKING UP THE RECORD BOOK
• A number of Beavers have made their way into the Oregon State record books in various categories.
• Meehra Nelson had a record breaking freshman year, as she set the single-season saves record with seven and ranks fifth all-time in saves through three seasons. Mariah Mazon ranks 9th with five saves
• McKenna Arriola is working up the ranks as she is fifth all-time in runs scored with 143
• Both Arriola and Shelby Weeks rank in the top 10 list for career batting average at OSU with at least two seasons played
• Weeks sits sixth with a .331 career batting average, while Arriola is hitting .316 through four seasons in the Orange and Black, good for eighth all-time
• Arriola ranks third on the career stolen base list at 42; Weeks has worked her way into the all-time stolen bases leaderboard currently tied for fourth all-time (36), while Garcia is tied for sixth (32)
• Nelson ranks 6th in Oregon State history with 377 career strikeouts

ALL-CONFERENCE AWARDS
• The Pac-12 Conference released its yearly awards following the completion of the regular season
• Senior first basemen/designate player Alysha Everett was tabbed with All-Conference Third-Team
• Freshman Hope Brandner and Mariah Mazon earned All-Conference Third-Team and All-Freshman Team
• Freshman Camryn Ybarra was named to the All-Defensive Team as well as the All-Freshman Team
• Missy Nunes was honored with a selection to the All-Freshman team

KNOWS WHAT IT TAKES
• Oregon State's coaching staff is no stranger when it comes to the NCAA Tournament and the Women's College World Series
• Both head Coach Laura Berg and associate head coach Marcie Green played at Fresno State in the '90s and gained plenty of experience in the path to the WCWS
• Coach Berg played from 1994-95 and 1997-98 making it to the WCWS three times and won the national championship in '98
• Coach Green played from 1990-93 and appeared in three WCWS, including a runner-up finish in 1990
• Assistant coach Adam DeRusha made the WCWS as a grad assistant at LSU in 2016 and 2017, and was part of the coaching staff in 2014 and 2015 for Florida when the Gators won the national championship in back-to-back years

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL
For more information on the Oregon State softball team, visit OSUBeavers.com or follow the team @BeaverSoftball on Twitter and Instagram.

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

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Players Mentioned

McKenna Arriola

Hope Brandner

Alysha Everett

Jessica Garcia

Mariah Mazon

Meehra Nelson

Missy Nunes

Michelle Sass

Kayleen Shafer

Shelby Weeks

Camryn Ybarra