Beavers Close Out Home Slate Tuesday
Let’s Play Ball: The Oregon State softball team will play it’s final home games of the season Tuesday, when it hosts Portland State for a doubleheader at the OSU Softball Complex. First pitch for game one is slated for 1 p.m.
Follow Along: You can find live updates for all Oregon State games this season on twitter @OregonStateSB. Live stats will also be available at osubeavers.com.
The Matchup: Portland State is 7-32 this season, and 2-12 in Big Sky Confence play. The Vikings are led by Britt Hendrickson, who is hitting .336 this season with 25 RBIs and 17 runs, while Alicia Fine is batting .305 with 16 runs and 11 RBIs. Pitcher Karyn Wright has a 2-18 record and a 6.92 ERA.
Series History: Oregon State is 86-32-1 all-time against the Vikings. The Beavers have won the last 10 games between the two teams, including a doubleheader sweep last season in Portland. Ya Garcia want 2-for-6 with a run and an RBI in last year’s matchups.
Give Me Gilmore: Junior Dani Gilmore has continued her fantastic collegiate career this season, hitting .397 with seven home runs, 28 runs and 27 RBIs. She is currently riding an 11-game hitting streak, the longest by any Beaver this year and the longest in her career. The West Hills, Calif., native played the majority of her first two seasons in the leadoff spot, but has transitioned into the third position this year. Gilmore is a career .329 hitter, and has proven to be a wizard on the base-paths as well, stealing a team-best 28 bases on just 31 attempts since 2012. Gilmore also led the Beavers with 36 walks last season, placing her 14th in the NCAA in walks per game with 0.82, and leads the team again this season with 17 walks in the 2014 campaign. Gilmore also does not shy away from pressure, as she is hitting .487 this season with runners in scoring position.
More Gilmore: Gilmore is already making her way into the Oregon State career record books. She is currently tied for fifth in Beaver history with a .329 batting average, and is third with 92 walks. Her 114 runs are good for fifth in the Oregon State record book, while she is tied for ninth all-time with 28 steals and is tied with Lea Cavestany for 9th with 24 career home runs. With a .686 slugging percentage through the first 39 games of the season, Gilmore is also on pace to finish the year second on Oregon State’s single season list for slugging percentage.
Kori Comes Through: Kori Nishitomi has proven she can compete at the Pac-12 level, after transferring from Longwood in the summer. Nishitomi is batting .386 through 19 games of conference play, and leads the team with 11 runs scored. Overall, Nishitomi is batting .375 on the year, leads the team with 48 hits and is tops on the squad with eight steals. Her season has been highlighted by a 4-for-4 performance against Arizona State on March 16, which included a triple. Nishitomi has also shown a penchant for teeing off against some of the nation’s best pitchers, as her two home runs this season have come against Arizona State’s Dallas Escobedo and Oregon’s Cheridan Hawkins.
Cheer on Chirichigno: Junior transfer CJ Chirichigno has hit a home run in each of Oregon State’s last four series. She hit the first grand slam of her collegiate career against UCLA, knocking one over the left-field fence in the first inning. The blast was the first grand slam by a Beaver since Natalie Hampton hit one against Northwestern on Feb. 9, 2013. After failing to hit a home run in her first 31 games with the Beavers, Chirichigno now has four home runs in her last 11 games, including a frozen rope over the 235-foot fence in dead-center at Utah. Chirichigno is tied for the team lead with 10 RBIs in conference play.
Going for 3: This year’s Oregon State recruiting class was ranked third in the nation by StudentSports.com, and includes four of the site’s top 40 recruits. Alysha Everett is Student Sports’ 23rd-ranked recruit, following an impressive display at PGF Nationals over the summer, as she hit .409 in bracket play. 27th-ranked Gina Bond is considered to be one of the top home-run hitters in the country, and has earned 6A Three Rivers first team honors three times. McKenna Arriola is StudentSports.com’s 33rd-rated recruit. She hit .541, with 33 runs, 23 RBIs and 12 steals at Camino Real High School last season, en-route to All-City honors. 40th-ranked Lovie Lopez batted .449 with five home runs as a junior for St. Paul High School last season. Pitcher Rainey Dyreson rounds out the class. She was named Great Basin (West) Conference Pitcher of the Year in her freshman and sophomore years, and has competed in the PGF Nationals.
