Softball Opens Pac-10 Play at Home
THIS WEEK'S ACTION: The No. 18 ranked Oregon State softball team (17-8), after a tough non-conference schedule that included 13 games with Top 25 opponents, begins Pac-10 play with two more top-ranked opponents. The Beavers, who are at home for the first time this season, will host No. 7 Arizona State (24-6) in doubleheader action at Ropes-Fetrow Field beginning at 1:00 p.m. Saturday, March 28. On Sunday, March 29, No. 1 Arizona (30-2) heads into Corvallis for a 1:00 p.m. doubleheader as well. Admission is free.
A LOOK AT THE BEAVERS: The Beavers have three players hitting above .300, with sophomore Tarrah Beyster leading the team with a .382 average to go along with her team-high 14 RBI. Junior Jodi Chmielewski is hitting .354 with a 11 RBI and a team-high 14 runs, and sophomore Parisa Plant has a .304 average with 10 runs and eight RBI. Beyster also leads the pitching staff with a 1.08 ERA and 13-5 record.
BEYSTER BRINGS HOME SECOND PAC-10 HONOR: Sophomore Tarrah Beyster was named the Pac-10 Player of the Week after an impressive offensive weekend at the March 19-21 Kia Klassic in Fullerton, CA. The All-American hit .500 in five games, and four of her seven hits were for extra bases. Against No. 25 Florida, OSU's all-time home run leader hit two roundtrippers in one game for the second time in her career. She also hit a home run in Oregon State's win over No. 4 Oklahoma State, and she had a double in a victory over No. 6 Oklahoma. On the weekend, Beyster finished with a slugging percentage of 1.214 with six RBI and four runs scored. Opposing pitchers also walked her three times. It is Beyster's second career Pac-10 Player of the Week honor, her first coming after last year's Fullerton tourney (then known as the Pony) as well. Beyster is the second Beaver to earn Pac-10 Player of the Week honors this season; junior Jodi Chmielewski earned league recognition on March 10.
A LOOK AT ARIZONA STATE: The Sun Devils will take a six-game winning streak into Corvallis after winning their DIamond Devil Classic last weekend. ASU is hitting .301 as a team, led by senior Raja Woods, who is hitting .395 with a team-high 23 runs. Senior Roxanne Tsosie, who is 14-2 with a 1.08 ERA on the season, was named Pac-10 Pitcher of the Week for her efforts last week.
A LOOK AT ARIZONA: The defending national champion and current No. 1 Wildcats are riding a 12-game winning streak. Arizona is dominating its opponents at the plate as the Wildcats are hitting .394 as a team while holding the opposition to just a .167 average. Senior Alison (Johnsen) McCutcheon leads the Wildcat offense with a .509 average, 51 runs, 22 RBI and 24 stolen bases, all team highs. Senior pitcher Nancy Evans, Arizona's ace, is 16-0 on the mound with a 0.52 ERA and 135 strikeouts in 107.0 innings of work.
OREGON STATE VS. THE ARIZONA SCHOOLS: The Beavers are just 7-45 all-time against Arizona and 10-41 against Arizona State. The Beavers and the Wildcats met four times last year, and Arizona won all three Pac-10 games (2-6, 1-11, 1-11). Oregon State came up with a 3-0 win over the Wildcats at Cal State Fullerton in a game that did not count in the Pac-10 standings. The Beavers took three of four Pac-10 games from the Sun Devils last season; the two teams split in Corvallis (4-2, 1-5), and OSU won both down in Tempe (4-2, 9-3).
LAST WEEK'S ACTION: The Beavers played in their toughest tournament of the season last week when they faced five Top 25 teams at the Kia Klassic at Cal State Fullerton, where the Beavers lost three consecutive games for the first time this season. The Beavers opened with a 3-1 win over No. 6 Oklahoma, but then dropped three in a row. The Beavers lost to No. 25 Florida (7-6), No. 5 Fresno State (8-2) and No. 11 Texas (1-0) before finishing the weekend on a positive note with an 8-3 win over No. 4 Oklahoma State. Sophomore Tarrah Beyster hit .500 with three home runs on the weekend, while junior Jodi Chmielewski hit .353 and junior Kim Herman was at a .333 clip. On the mound, Beyster was the pitcher of record in all five games and finished with a 2.10 ERA.
WHY STOP AT ONE? Junior Jodi Chmielewski has collected at least two hits in 10 of Oregon State's 25 games this season to lead the Beavers in multiple-hit games. She had three hits in a March 8 game vs. Oklahoma State and had two hits in nine other games. Chmielewski has had at least one hit in 18 games this season and has not gone more than two games without a hit. She put together the team'slongest hitting streak of the season with a six-game hitting streak to start the season. Senior Denise Brown and sophomore Parisa Plant each have six multiple-hit games. Plant had four hits in a game against UC Santa Barbara, the most hits by a Beaver in a game this year, and she had three hits in two other games as well.
HEDDINGER'S HIGHLIGHTS: Junior Tasha Heddinger hit her first career home run in Oregon State's 7-6 loss to No. 25 Florida at the Kia Klassic. Her home run was just one of many highlights of her weekend in Fullerton. Heddinger, who was hitting .167 on her career, hit .273 in five games at the Kia Klassic. She also had four RBI on the weekend after having just two her entire career, one this year and one as a freshman in 1996.
PLANT PUTTING UP CAREER NUMBERS ALREADY: Sophomore Parisa Plant is showing much improvement from her rookie season. Plant has eight RBI through 25 games this season, compared with six in 63 games as a rookie. She is hitting .304 on the year after hitting .238 during her freshman season. With 10 runs scored this season, she needs two more to reach her totals from a year ago.
HEAD COACH KIRK WALKER: Kirk Walker is in his fourth season as head coach of the Oregon State softball program. His 1997 squad compiled a 29-34-1 record, and those 29 wins were third most in school history and the most since 1984. His overall record at Oregon State stands at 75-120-1. With those 75 wins, Walker becomes the second winningest softball coach at OSU. Ellen Margolis led the Beavers to 145 wins from 1981-85. Walker came to OSU from UCLA, where he spent 11 years as a manager and assistant coach.
INJURY REPORT: Sophomore outfielder Amber Anderson ruptured a tendon in the fourth finger of her right hand while competing at the Fresno State Classic on March 6. While Anderson is available as a pinch runner, she will not be available to play defense or bat for three more weeks after last week's surgery. Senior Alycia Stevens, an All-Pacific Region and All-Pac-10 performer a year ago, is still out with a back injury as well.
THREE BEAVERS CLIMBING IN THE RECORD BOOKS: Two juniors are nearing OSU's career doubles record. Jodi Chmielewski has 20 career doubles and needs just one more to share the No. 1 spot with Andrea Talcott (1991-95), while Kim Herman ranks fifth with 16. Chmielewski also is tied for fifth in career runs scored (56, needs five more to tie for No. 4 spot) and is sixth on the career hits list (127, needs two more to tie for No. 5 spot). Sophomore Tarrah Beyster, who already ranks first with 17 career home runs, has been walked 66 times in her career to rank second (Denise Small walked 80 times from 1976-79.). Beyster also stands fourth with 10 shutouts, and her 28 wins tie for fifth all-time.
OREGON STATE AND THE TOP 25 POLL: Oregon State remains at No. 18 in the March 25 USA Today/NFCA Top 25 Poll after finishing 2-3 against five Top 25 teams last week. Thirteen of OSU's 1998 opponents -- including six Pac-10 teams -- are currently ranked, and an additional three opponents earned votes. OSU is 7-6 against ranked teams in 1998.
The Pac-10 remains the nation's premiere softball conference, with seven Top 25 teams. The Big 12 is second with six ranked teams.
