Beavers Close Out Regular Season at Utah

REWIND
• Oregon State readies for its regular season closer at Utah after a tough weekend battling No. 5/6 Washington
• The Beavers dropped all three games of the series pushing their losing streak to nine games
• The Beavers fell in game one by a score of 6-1 after the Huskies started with three runs in the first inning
• Shelby Weeks and Alysha Everett combined for two hits each
• Weeks scored the only run of the game after an Everett RBI
• Mariah Mazon tossed her 16th complete game in the loss retiring four to strikeouts
• Game 2 was a defensive affair that saw only two runs scored, both solo home runs
• Meehra Nelson struck out four in her 10th complete game, giving up just two hits, both home runs
• The Beavers combined for three hits, one each from Weeks, Everett and Mazon who started the game at DP
• Oregon State dropped its home finale on Senior Day after falling short on the comeback attempt
• McKenna Arriola had a day in her final game at OSU Softball Complex following a fantastic career for the Beavers
• Arriola finished 3-for-3 with one RBI and one runs scored
• Washington grabbed a fast 4-0 lead after the first inning; Nelson came in for relief of Mazon and held the Huskies to just one run in six inning while the Beavers put up three runs
• Nelson had great command in the circle on the final day at OSU Softball Complex giving up one run while striking out eight
• Nelson had a stretch of four-straight strikeouts between the fifth and six innings
• A pair of freshman had a pair of hits on the day
• Camryn Ybarra finished 2-for-3, while Missy Nunes hit 2-for-4
• Sophomore Jessie Wilson scored her first career run for the Beavers in the final game of the series; Kayleen Shafer and Arriola added the final two runs for OSU

UPCOMING
• The Beavers head to face the Utes of Utah as they conclude the Pacific-12 Conference schedule
• Oregon State battles Utah (20-28, 2-19) in a three-game set beginning Thursday night
• Utah holds a slight lead in the all-time series with Oregon State, 19-15
• Washington enters the weekend on a 10-game losing streak have dropped consecutive series No. 2 Oregon, No. 9 Arizona State and California
• The Beavers need to win two-of-three games at Salt Lake City in order to be eligible for the postseason

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Thursday, May 10
Oregon State at Utah - 7 p.m.
Dumke Family Softball Stadium, Salt Lake City, Utah

Friday, May 11
Oregon State at Utah - 7 p.m.
Dumke Family Softball Stadium, Salt Lake City, Utah

Saturday, May 12
Oregon State at Utah - 12 p.m.
Dumke Family Softball Stadium, Salt Lake City, Utah

FOLLOW THE BEAVS
• Oregon State's contests this week will be broadcast by the Pac-12 Networks; 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 so far in 2018, with Meehra Nelson and Mariah Mazon anchoring the rotation
• Shelby Weeks has started in every game she has appeared in (47)
• Catcher Kayleen Shafer has made 43 starts
• Camryn Ybarra has played in 49 games as a true freshman and started 47 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 (15)
• Weeks is still the only Beaver to reach every base from the batter's box, with 38 hits, three doubles, a triple and two home runs in 2018
• Garcia has started every game in center field but one (51) and holds the third-most stolen bases for the Beavers (7)
• 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 52 games in her freshman season with 49 starts at third base. Her last three starts came at shortstop
• Freshman Hope Brandner leads the Beavers in multiple categories: Home Runs (10), RBI (29), Slugging Percentage (.500)
• Brandner holds the season-long hitting streak for the Beavers at 11 games; and also holds the most multiple RBI games this season with 6; 2 RBI (1), 3 RBI (2), 4 RBI (3)
• Nelson owns 372 career strikeouts with 108 on the year so far; she ranks 7th 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 (2.53), Wins (13), Shutouts (4), Earned Runs (45), Opposing Batting Average (.223)
• Mazon has begun to blossom into her role in the circle grabbing a win against a top-10 opponent (Arizona State)
• Mazon leads the OSU pitching crew in Appearances (34), Starts (23), Complete Games (16), Saves (4), Innings Pitched (177.0), and Strikeouts (129)
• 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 .273 with the second-most doubles (8) and home runs (6) and slugging percentage (.455) 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 47 games at second base and is hitting .209 with 10 walks, 13 RBI, 10 runs scored, two doubles and two home runs
• Kayleen Shafer has started 43 games behind the plate and has already 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 .258 with 16 runs scored, two doubles, two homers and nine 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.
• Recently, Laura Berg was named a head coach for the USA Softball Women's National Team for the summer of 2018. Berg previously spent the summer as the head coach for the US Junior Women's National Team

2018 SCHEDULE NOTES
• Currently, 13 of Oregon State's opponents are ranked inside the top-25 of the NCAA RPI
• Eight of those 14 teams are inside the top-10, with Oregon State having played four of the top five teams
• Oregon State currently ranks No. 1 in Strength of Schedule in the NCAA
• The Beavers have:
   -    1 Win vs. Top 5
   -    2 Wins vs. Top 10
   -    7 Wins vs. Top 25
   -    23 Games vs. Top 25 Opponents
• Oregon State has five one-run losses to ranked opponents, and 11 losses to ranked opponents by two runs or less

FOLLOW BERG
• Head coach Laura Berg is in her sixth season.
• Has guided OSU to three NCAA Tournament appearances.
• Holds a 161-152-1 overall record and 44-94 in Pac-12 games

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
• McKenna Arriola is working up the ranks as she is fifth all-time in runs scored with 142
• 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 .330 career batting average, while Arriola is hitting .314 through four seasons in the Orange and Black, good for eighth all-time
• Weeks has worked her way into the all-time stolen bases leaderboard currently in sixth all-time (36)
• Nelson ranks 7th in Oregon State history with 372 career strikeouts

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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

Jessie Wilson

Camryn Ybarra