Beavers Head to Utah for Pac-12 Showdown
Let’s Play Ball: The Oregon State softball team gets back to Pac-12 play this weekend with a three game series against Utah in Salt Lake City. The set will open Friday at 5 p.m. PT, before continuing with contests at 5 p.m. PT on Saturday and 11 a.m. PT on Sunday.
On the Screen: You can catch all three of this weekend’s games live on Pac-12 Networks. Friday and Saturday’s contests will be shown on all seven Pac-12 Networks, while Sunday’s game will be available on Pac-12 National, Pac-12 Oregon, Pac-12 Mountain and Pac-12 Washington. Anne Marie Anderson and Teri Goldberg will be in the booth for the weekend series.
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: Utah is 12-15 on the season, and 1-7 in Pac-12 play. Hanna Flippen leads the Utes, hitting .424 with 21 runs, 16 RBIs and three home runs. Sammy Cordova paces Utah in the circle, holding a 4-2 record with a 3.46 ERA and 31 strikeouts.
Series History: The Beavers are 12-10 all time against the Utes. Oregon State won last season’s series 2-1 in Corvallis, winning the first game 6-2 and the rubber match 10-2 in five innings. Ya Garcia went 7-for-8 with three runs and an RBI in the series, while Dani Gilmore went 5-for-6 with three runs and two RBIs.
Last Time Out: Oregon State is coming off an 8-1 victory over UC Santa Barbara on Wednesday afternoon, as the Beavers took a break from conference play. Oregon State tallied 13 hits in the contest, the second most by the squad this season (14 vs. Pacific on Feb. 22) and the most at OSU Softball Complex in 2014.
Kori Comes Through: Kori Nishitomi has started her Pac-12 career on fire, batting .476 in the first seven games of the conference slate. The Kaneohe, Hawaii, native is 10-for-21 since the start of league play, with three runs, a triple, a home run and two RBIs. She had another strong showing against UC Santa Barbara on Wednesday, going 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI. Overall, Nishitomi is batting .391 on the year, leads the team with 36 hits and is tied for tops on the squad with five steals. Her season has been highlighted by a 4-for-4 performance against Arizona State on March 16, which included a triple.
Going, Going, Gonzalez: Freshman Alexis Gonzalez has made the cleanup spot her own in just her first season with the Beavers. The OSU designated player hit her third career home run in the second game of the Beavers’ series against Arizona, and filled up the stat sheet against UC Santa Barbara on Wednesday, going 2-for-2 with two RBIs, a run, two walks and a steal. The freshman also hit .333 in Oregon State’s series against Arizona State, and her two-RBI double helped carry the Beavers to victory in the series’ opening game.
Give Me Gilmore: Junior Dani Gilmore has opened the 2014 campaign on a tear, hitting .410 with six home runs, 24 runs and 19 RBIs. 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 .326 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 is on a similar pace this season with 17 walks already in the 2014 campaign. Gilmore showed her ability again on Wednesday, going 3-for-4 with two runs and a steal.
More Gilmore: Gilmore is already making her way into the Oregon State career record books. She is currently sixth in Beaver history with a .326 batting average, and is third with 92 walks. Her 110 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 Vanessa Iapala for 10th with 23 career home runs. With a .723 slugging percentage through the first 30 games of the season, Gilmore is also on pace to finish the year second on Oregon State’s single season list for slugging percentage.
Bouska Goes For The Century: With three hits on Wednesday, senior Hannah Bouska is now poised to reach a career milestone this weekend. Bouska needs just a pair of hits against Utah to reach 100 in her career, placing her alongside Dani Gilmore as the only active Beavers to reach that mark. Bouska has been a fixture in the Beaver lineup in her four years at Oregon State, starting 141 games and scoring 74 runs.
The Amanda Show: Senior Amanda Najdek has continued her impressive 2014 season on Wednesday with a complete game performance against UC Santa Barbara. Najdek did not surrender an earned run, and allowed just seven hits in the contest. The transfer from Wisconsin earned her first Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week honor on March 18, after shutting down a high-powered Arizona State offense to help the Beavers to a pair of wins and a series victory over the No. 5/7 Sun Devils. The senior threw complete games in both of her starts in the series, holding ASU to just a single earned run in each outing. She opened the weekend by allowing just six hits and recording six strikeouts in the first game, a 3-2 victory for the Beavers. Najdek then came back with another gem on Sunday, allowing just one run on seven hits for a 3-1 win. Overall, she held a Sun Devil offense that entered the series averaging nearly seven runs per game to just three total runs over the course of her two starts.
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.
