Gameday Rundown: NCAA Regionals
May 17, 2013
This Weekend: Oregon State competes in the NCAA Regionals for the 11th time in school history, traveling to Columbia, Mo., for a date with Colonial Athletic Association champion Hofstra at 1:00 p.m. PDT/3:00 local time on Friday. Sixth-seeded Missouri is the regional host, and the Tigers’ opening opponent is Stony Brook, champions of the America East Conference.
Tracking the Beavs: Live stats will be available online via Gametracker at osubeavers.com.
Social Media: Follow the softball team @OregonStateSB on Twitter for updated information including game updates, photos and behind-the-scenes information. “Like” facebook.com/OregonStateSB to stay in touch with all OSU stories and other great news and notes. The team also has a new Instagram page, @OregonStateSB. Check the page for photos of the OSU softball team.
Last Time Out: The Beavers concluded the regular season with a home series against No. 15 UCLA. The Beavers took the first game of the series, 3-2, on the power of back-to-back homers by Natalie Hampton and Desiree Beltran. Hampton set the school record for RBIs in a season during the series. She now has 50 for the year.
Weekend Television Information: All games live on ESPN3.com with Mark Neely (play-by-play) and former UCLA and USA softball player Amanda Freed (color commentary).
Award Winners: This week, senior Lea Cavestany and freshman Natalie Hampton were each named to the All Pac-12 Second Team and NFCA Pacific Region Second Team. Hampton also earned a spot on the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team. The selections to the NFCA team allow both to be eligible for selection to the All-America Team.
Hampton New RBI Leader: Freshman first baseman Natalie Hampton now has 50 RBIs this season after breaking the old school record of 48 last weekend against No. 15 UCLA. She surpassed the mark set in 2003 by Shelly Prochaska and tied by Brianne McGowan in 2007. Hampton also hit her 15th home run of the season in the UCLA series, putting her just one shy of tying the school record of 16. That record was set by Tarrah Beyster in 2000 and tied by Cambria Miranda in 2006.
Climbing the Charts: Senior Lea Cavestany is now ninth on the RBIs list with 42, surpassing Elizabeth Santana’s 41 from last season. Santana’s recent base on balls binge has her in 10th place on the school’s single season list with 32 free passes this year.
Team Home Run Total: The Beavers’ back-to-back homers on Thursday puts their season total at 51, putting this year’s team at number four in school history. The 2013 teaam was tied with the 2007 bunch with 49 heading into the UCLA series. The school record of 61 home runs was set by the 2003 team.
Demore Wins 20th: Senior pitcher Marina Demore won her 20th game of the season against UCLA last weekend, making her the first 20-game winner in six years at Oregon State.>Brianne McGowan won 25 games in 2007. The school record is 36, set by McGowan in 2005. Demore now has won 39 games in her career, placing her 10th on the school’s all-time list.
Double Digit Home Run Hitters: Senior Lea Cavestany hit her 10th home run of the season at Portland State. It puts her in double digits with freshman Natalie Hampton. It’s the first time since 2007 that two Beavers reached at least 10 homers in the same season. That year, Cambria Miranda had 11 and Brianne McGowan had 10.
Senior Class’ Last Hurrah: The Beavers have a rather large senior class in 2013 as the team will say goodbye to nine seniors at the conclusion of the season. That group was honored prior to Saturday’s regular season finale against UCLA. The class is concluding its collegiate career with a second consecutive trip to the NCAA Regionals. It’s a group that certainly contributes. In a typical game, six or seven of the seniors are in the starting lineup.
Around the Horn: The Beavers have played 55 games so far this season and have used the same infield alignment in every game at first, second, third and shortstop. Respectively, freshman Natalie Hampton, sophomore Ya Garcia, and seniors Desiree Beltran and Elizabeth Santana have been on head coach Laura Berg’s lineup card in each game of the 2013 season.
The Tradition Continues: Only one Pac-12 team in the last 16 seasons (Arizona State - 2004) has not advanced to an NCAA Regional after completing its regular season schedule with a winning record. No conference team that has finished more than seven games over .500 has ever been denied a postseason berth.
