Oregon State
Ohio State
Beavers Head East for Knoxville Regional Friday
May 18, 2022 | Softball
THIS WEEK
• Oregon State begins its 15th NCAA Tournament run and first since 2018 on Friday, May 20 against Ohio State at 1 p.m. PT in Knoxville, Tenn. All action during the double-elimination regional weekend for the Beavers will take place at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium, hosted by No. 11 Tennessee. The winner of the Knoxville Regional will move on to the best-of-three NCAA Super Regional against the winner of the Tuscaloosa Regional.
WEEKEND SCHEDULE
Friday, May 20
Game One:
No. 3 Oregon State vs No. 2 Ohio State – 1:00 p.m. PT
Knoxville, Tenn. – ESPNU
Game Two:
No. 1 Tennessee vs No. 4 Campbell – 3:00 p.m. PT
Knoxville, Tenn.
Saturday, May 21
Game Three:
G1 Winner vs G2 Winner – 9:00 a.m. PT
Knoxville, Tenn.
Game Four:
G1 Loser vs G2 Loser – 11:30 a.m. PT
Knoxville, Tenn.
Game Five:
G3 Loser vs G4 Winner – 2:00 p.m. PT
Knoxville, Tenn.
Sunday, May 22
Game Six:
G3 Winner vs G5 Winner – 11:00 a.m. PT
Knoxville, Tenn.
Game Seven: (if necessary)
G6 Winner vs G6 Loser – 1:30 p.m. PT
Knoxville, Tenn.
FOLLOW THE BEAVS
• Links to livestreams and live stats will be available on the softball schedule page at OSUBeavers.com
• Follow @BeaverSoftball on Twitter for the most up-to-date news on all things Beaver Softball.
SCOUTING THE BUCKEYES
• Ohio State enters postseason play with a 35-15 overall record after going 13-9 in Big Ten play, advancing to the conference tournament semifinals last week in East Lansing, Mich.
• The Buckeyes, who enter the regional as the No. 2 seed, are hitting .294 as a team with powerful numbers in the conference: their 47 home runs were fifth-best in the conference along with a .466 slugging percentage
• Junior Sam Hackenbracht leads the power category with 14 long balls and has 26 over the last two years to go along with a team-best 48 runs scored.
• Nicki Carver checks in with a .350 batting average, 32 RBIs, 30 runs scored and an impressive .494 on-base percentage.
• Three other Buckeyes are batting .300 or better, including McKenzie Bump (.330, eight doubles, 25 RBI), Jaycee Ruberti (.309, 36 runs) and Melina Wilkison (.331, 10 doubles, 32 runs).
• Graduate senior Lexie Handley has handled OSU's circle with 22 victories, ranking third in the Big Ten with 259 strikeouts. Allison Smith (804, 3.68 ERA) and Emily Ruck (5-2, 3.09 ERA) have handled the rest of the innings.
THE SERIES: OREGON STATE VS. OHIO STATE
• Oregon State and Ohio State have played eleven times previously, most recently in 2020 prior to COVID-19 shutting down the remainder of the season.
• The Buckeyes took the first game by a score of 3-0 before the Beavers bounced back and took the 7-3 game-two at the ASU Invitational in Tempe, Ariz.
• The Orange & Black hold the 9-2 all-time series and are 1-1 under Berg.
BEAVERS AT A GLANCE
• The Beavers broke their 10-game losing skid by earning their fourth Pac-12 weekend series last weekend. Oregon State closed out the regular season, defeating Utah in games one and two in dramatic fashion.
• Oregon State finished at 33-19 overall with a 9-15 mark in Pac-12 play. The wins are the most during a single season since 2013.
• As a team, the Beavers hold a .280 batting average with 52 home runs from 10 different Beavers. Super senior Mariah Mazon collected three last weekend, including a career-best two long balls in the series opener against the Utes on Thursday.
• Mazon led the team in hits (6-for-9), RBIs (7), and home runs (3), slugging an exceptional 1.667 and registered 15 total bases with a .667 average in three games last weekend to conclude her home career. With her performance, she was named both Pac-12 Player of the Week and Pitcher of the Week after also tossing 15 and a 1/3 innings with two wins and struck out a combined 21 batters. Mazon needs just 20 strike outs to break the OSU record of 852 set by Brianne McGowan.
• Junior Frankie Hammoude (.391 batting average) connected on her team-best 13th home run of the year against Utah in the series opener. She now totals 41 bombs and needs just one more to tie Cambria Miranda for second all-time in the Beaver record books. Tarrah Beyster is the home run leader with 52.
• Freshman Kiki Escobar is third in the conference with 67 hits with a .349 batting average. She has started in all 52 games and has a team-best ten doubles and ten stolen bases.
• Freshman Kaylah Nelsen delivered a two-out triple, her first of her career, to lift Oregon State to a dramatic 8-7 win over the Utes in the series opener. Nelsen is now batting .287, appearing in 41 games with 31 hits, seven doubles, 22 RBIs and seven runs.Â
• Prior to the Utah series, OSU placed four on all-conference teams with an additional three named to the freshman team. Mazon and Hammoude were named first team while Escobar and Sarah Haendiges (10-6, 2.24 ERA) were placed on the second team and freshman team. Freshman counterpart and center fielder Eliana Gottlieb garnered freshman team honors.Â
 UP NEXT
• The winners of Friday's game will play at 9 a.m. PT on Saturday while the losers will face each other at 11:30 a.m. PT in an elimination game.
• The winner of the elimination game will payer the loser of the 9 a.m. PT game on Saturday at 2 p.m. PT.
• On Sunday, the winner of the regional's third game and fifth game play at 11 a.m. PT and if necessary an winner-take-all regional final will be held at 1:30 p.m. PT on Sunday.
• The winner of the Knoxville Regional will move on to the best-of-three NCAA Super Regional against the winner of the Tuscaloosa Regional.
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).
