Beavers Set for Houston Classic

THIS WEEK:
• Oregon State travels to the Lone Star State for the Houston Classic hosted by the University of Houston. The Beavers will play four games over the course of three days.

Friday, February 14
Oregon State vs. Dayton - 8:30 a.m. PT
Cougar Softball Stadium, Houston, Texas

Saturday, February 15
Oregon State vs. Dayton - 8:30 a.m. PT
Cougar Softball Stadium, Houston, Texas
Oregon State at Houston - 4:00 p.m. PT
Cougar Softball Stadium, Houston, Texas - Live Stream available

Sunday, February 16
Oregon State at Houston - 10:00 a.m.
Cougar Softball Stadium, Houston, Texas - Live Stream available

FOLLOW THE BEAVS:
• Live stats will be available this weekend through Statbroadcaster.com
• Links to live stats will be available on the softball schedule page at OSUBeavers.com
• For both games against the University of Houston a live stream will be available. The link can be found on the softball page at OSUBeavers.com.
• Follow @BeaverSoftball on Twitter for the most up-to-date news on all things Beaver Softball.

TICKETS ON SALE NOW:
• Tickets for Oregon State's 14-home games are on sale now at BeaverTickets.com/softball.
• Season tickets are available for $50 for adults and $30 for youth and seniors. Single game tickets can be purchased at $7 for adults and $5 for youth.
• Tickets for the Oregon State vs. the USA National Softball Team in Hillsboro, Ore. on March 17 at Ron Tonkin Field can be purchased today on the Hillsboro Hops website.

MIGHTY MAZON:
• Junior Mariah Mazon dominated from in the circle and in the box on opening weekend in Las Vegas, Nev.
• In the circle, Mazon threw her first-career no-hitter in her first appearance of the season against UNLV on Feb. 7 with nine strikeouts.
• Mazon made four appearances in the circle with 23.0 innings pitched and recorded 27 strikeouts over the weekend. She finished with a 2-1 record and picked up a save while posting a .30 ERA.
• Offensively, Mazon led the charge for OSU after batting .600 on the weekend with nine hits - including three doubles and her first career home run.
• She holds a 1.000 slugging pct. and a .647 on-base pct. with three RBI and one walk.
• Nationally, Mazon sits as followed in the NCAA: 8. Strikeouts, T-10. Doubles, T-13. Hits, T-27. Batting Average, T-47 On-Base Percentage.

MAGNIFICENT MELANCON:
•, Grad-transfer Trystan Melancon has proved to be a good compliment to Mazon in the circle.
• Melancon pitched 11.0 innings over the course of two appearances and earned her first two victories as a Beaver.
• In her debut in the Orange and Black, Melancon threw a shutout with 13 strikeouts.
• While in the circle, opponents have yet to score to help Melancon post a 0.00 ERA.
• Melancon finished the weekend allowing only three hits while striking out 19 total batters and a .086 opponent batting average.
• Nationally, Melancon is tied for the lowest ERA in the NCAA.

WELCOME TO THE XIAO:
• It is hard to look at the performance of Xiao Gin on opening weekend and assume that she is only a freshman.
• Gin started every game for OSU at second base and made impressive plays including helping the Beavers turn one-of-two double plays on the weekend and field a ball backhanded steps away from second base and get the throw to first base for the out.
• Gin currently sits second on the team in batting average posting .353 and sits with a .421 on-base percentage.
• Gin finished with six hits, two RBI and one run scored. She also layed down a sac bunt to advance runners in the second game against Southern Utah.
• Gin also leads the team in stolen bases with two.

NUNES KNOWS:
• Junior Missy Nunes is fourth on the team in batting average (.313) with five hits - including one double and one home run.
• Nunes is posting a .563 slugging pct. and a .389 on-base pct. after being hit by a pitch twice (her career total is 23)
• Nunes hit three RBI and stolen one base.
• Nunes started all five games on opening weekend - four in right field and one at third base.

RETURNERS' REPORT:
• Izzy Owen saw time in all five games, making three starts all in left field. She sits with a .333 batting average after recording four hits, scoring two runs and hitting two RBI.
• Ashton Phillips started four games over opening weekend - three in center and one in right field. She scored one run.
• Senior Fallon Molnar recorded her first career home run when she pinch hit against CSUN. The two-runner homer extend OSU's lead in the top of the seventh inning. Molnar pinch hit in four games opening weekend.

NEWCOMER NEWS:
• Val Pero started in four games for the Beavers - including two behind the plate and two at designated player.
• Pero finished with four hits, two runs scored and a .286 BA. She also picked off a runner.
• Grace Messmer batted .278 with five hits and one run scored. She was walked twice and holds a .350 on-base percentage while being the starting shortstop for all five games and turning two double plays.
• Morgan Allen started all five games - two in left field and three at first base. Allen finished with four hits and one sac bunt.
• Rylee Maston started three games behind the plate - catching primarily for Mazon. Maston finished the weekend with a double to put a runner on for Molnar to hit her homer.

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.
• Berg enters her eighth season at the helm of the Oregon State program, recording four NCAA Tournament appearances. Find more about Berg on the last page of these notes.
• 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 to coach. Green works primarily with the pitchers.
• Assistant coach Eric Leyba returns for his second season on staff working with the infielders and batters. Under his first season working with the infielders, Leyba coaches Hammoude and Rader to All-Freshman honors at first base and shortstop.
• Volunteer Assistant Coach Shelly Prochaska is new to the coaching staff, but not the Orange and Black. Prochaska played for former Beaver head coach Kirk Walker from 2000-03 before becoming an undergraduate assistant in 2004. Prochaska most recently served a stint as an assistant coach for the Sonoma State softball program during the 2018-19 season.
• Heather Smith also returns for her 19th season as Director of Operations.

NATIONAL SOFTBALL:
• Coach Berg is the most decorated USA Softball Olympic Athlete after joining the National Team in 1994. Berg won three gold medals for the United States (1996 - Atlanta, 2000 - Sydney, 2004 - Athens) and one silver (2008 - Beijing).
NCAA TOURNAMENT:
• Berg joined the Women's National Team coaching staff in 2012 and has served as an assistant before being named the head coach for the Junior WNT in 2017. Most recently, Berg was an assistant with the WNT that won Gold at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru.
• On November 14, 2019, Berg was named an assistant to the 2020 WNT's coaching staff. She will join the Stars and Stripes on staff in the pursuit of another Olympic Gold Medal as softball makes a return at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
• Sophomore Frankie Hammoude made her National Team debut in the summer of 2019 after trying out and making the Junior Women's National Team.
• Hammoude helped the the JWNT to become the 2019 U-19 WBSC World Cup Champions after hitting a three-run home run to tie things up in the championship game against Japan. USA went on to capture the title.
• Freshman Grace Messmer was a member of the Junior National Canadian Team in the summer of 2019.
• Messmer helped Canada to a Bronze Medal finish at the WBSC World Cup after recording a sac fly against Australia.
• Freshman Xiao Gin is trying out for the Chinese National Team.
• Berg recently signed Tarni Stepto to the 2021 class. Stepto helped Australia qualify for the 2020 Olympics as a pitcher/hitter and was named one of 20 finalists for the Australian Olympic Team that will be announced later in June.

NCAA TOURNAMENT:
• The Beavers have reached the NCAA Tournament four times under the direction of head coach Laura Berg. As a program, OSU has made a postseason appearance 13 times.
• The Beavers are 30-22 all-time in their 13 tournament appearances following two wins and two losses at the Tuscaloosa Regional in 2018.
• The last time OSU won a regional was in 2006 when it played Nevada and No. 19 Baylor twice. OSU went on to play in the Women's College World Series that year.
• Berg and former head coach Kirk Walker (1995-2012) are the only head coaches in program history to reach the NCAA Tournament.

KNOW WHAT IT TAKES:
• Oregon State's coaching staff is no stranger when it comes to the NCAA Tournament and WCWS.
• Both Berg and 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.
• Volunteer assistant coach Shelly Prochaska made a NCAA Regional appearance in all four seasons at Oregon State.

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).

Players Mentioned

Morgan Allen

Xiao Gin

Frankie Hammoude

Rylee Maston

Mariah Mazon

Trystan Melancon

Grace Messmer

Fallon Molnar

Missy Nunes

Izzy Owen

Val Pero

Ashton Zeiher