Beavers Set for Weekend Series vs. Cardinal
Let’s Play Ball: The Oregon State softball team heads south this week, as it closes out its season with a three-game series against Stanford in Stanford, Calif. The series will begin on Thursday, and will continue with contests on Friday and Saturday.
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.
On the Screen: All three of this weekend’s games will be carried live on Pac-12 Networks. The trio of games can be seen live on Pac-12 Oregon and Pac-12 Bay Area, and the games on Thursday and Saturday can also be viewed on Pac-12 Washington. Rich Cellini and Danielle Lawrie will have the call.
The Matchup: Stanford is 29-23 this season and 4-17 in Pac-12 play. The Cardinal upset No. 2/2 UCLA in game one of last week’s series, before dropping the final two matchups of the weekend. Kylie Sorenson leads Stanford with a .363 batting average with 42 RBIs, 24 runs and five home runs, while Kayla Bonstrom is hitting .333 with 38 runs and 43 RBIs. Madi Schreyer paces the Cardinal in the circle, with a 21-13 record, a 3.67 ERA and 167 strikeouts.
Historic Sunday: The Beavers reached a number of milestones in Sunday’s 10-7 victory over UNLV. Junior CJ Chirichigno highlighted the weekend with a 5-for-5 performance, setting the Oregon State record for hits in a game, while classmate Dani Gilmore scored four runs, matching a school record. As a team, the Beavers recorded 15 hits, setting a new season-high. The coaching staff got in on the action as well, as the victory marked the 50th win in the young career of head coach Laura Berg.
Cheer on Chirichigno: Chirichigno’s record-breaking performance on Sunday has highlighted a hot run for the transfer from Boston College. The Costa Mesa, Calif., native is batting .419 over her last 10 games, with three home runs, 12 RBIs and six runs. Chirichigno has made a solid transition into Pac-12 Conference play, hitting .292 since through 19 league games, with a team-high 10 RBIs. With her three-run homer in Sunday’s contest, Chirichigno now has a home run in five consecutive weekends.
Give Me Gilmore: Junior Dani Gilmore has continued her fantastic collegiate career this season, hitting .400 with seven home runs, 34 runs and 34 RBIs. She had a team-best 12-game hitting streak going into the second game of last Tuesday’s doubleheader, before failing to record a hit in the contest. 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 .332 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 18 walks in the 2014 campaign. Gilmore also does not shy away from pressure, as she is hitting .489 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 fifth in Beaver history with a .332 batting average, and tied for second with 96 walks. Her 120 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 .692 slugging percentage through the first 46 games of the season, Gilmore is also on pace to finish the year second on Oregon State’s single season list for slugging percentage.
Beavers in the Outfield: Oregon State outfielders Kori Nishitomi and Dani Gilmore have enjoyed tremendous success this season. The Beavers have entered all 46 games this year with Nishitomi in left and Gilmore in center, and the duo has put the bat on the ball all season long, as the two have combined for a .399 batting average. Individually, both Gilmore and Nishitomi are on pace to finish the season in the top-10 of Oregon State’s single-season batting list. Gilmore is currently in fourth, hitting .400 this season, while Nishitomi moved into sole possession of fifth (.399) with a pair of strong performances against UNLV.
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 .399 on the year, leads the team with 57 hits and is tops on the squad with nine 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.
Ya Ya Ya: Junior infielder Ya Garcia has started all 166 games Oregon State has played since entering the program as a freshman in 2012, hitting .254 with 64 runs. She is coming off her best week of the season, as she went 6-for-14 with six runs and two doubles over the course of Oregon State’s games against Portland State and UNLV. Her week was highlighted by a 3-for-5 showing on Sunday, in a performance that featured three runs and a pair of doubles. With her first hit of the contest, Garcia reached a milestone, joining Dani Gilmore and Hannah Bouska as the only active Beavers with 100 career hits. Garcia also made a splash at the Kajikawa Classic, when she launched her first career home run over the centerfield fence against San Diego State.
Powering Past Portland State: Oregon State set a new season high with 13 runs in its victory in the first game of Tuesday’s doubleheader against Portland State. The Beavers also matched then-season highs with a pair of 14-hit games against the Vikings, tying the mark set on Feb. 22 against Pacific. The 10 runs Oregon State scored in the fourth inning of Tuesday’s game one was the most the Beavers have scored in a single frame since they put up 12 in the fourth inning against Long Beach State on Feb. 16, 2013.
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.
