Friday, Mar. 3 | 9:30 a.m. | Iowa vs Washington* | Stats: uw.statbroadcast.com | Watch: flosoftball.com
Friday, Mar. 3 | 3 p.m. | Indiana vs Washington* | Stats: uw.statbroadcast.com | Watch: flosoftball.com
Saturday, Mar. 4 | 12:30 p.m. | Washington vs Fresno State* | Stats: uw.statbroadcast.com | Watch: flosoftball.com
Saturday, Mar. 4 | 5 p.m. | Washington vs Baylor* | Stats: uw.statbroadcast.com | Watch: flosoftball.com
Sunday, Mar. 5 | 9 a.m. | Washington vs Northwestern* | Stats: uw.statbroadcast.com | Watch: flosoftball.com
*home team
THIS WEEK: WASHINGTON AT JUDI GARMAN CLASSIC
The eighth-ranked Huskies (11-2) return to California this weekend to face five teams in the Judi Garman Classic in Fullerton, Calif. The tournament will be the last road pre-season tournament for the Huskies before opening at home in the Husky Classic. Washington is coming off a 4-1 showing at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic. The team's success at the highly competitive tournament helped them hold onto their No. 8 spot in the NFCA Top 25. Washington will face Iowa, Indiana, Northwestern, Fresno State and Baylor. The Huskies faced Northwestern just last weekend but for Indiana and Washington, this week will mark their first meeting since 1996.
HUSKIES AT A GLANCE
- No. 7/8 Washington Huskies just came off a 4-1 run at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Cathedral City, Calif. The Huskies defeated Ohio State, Northwestern, Texas and UC Santa Barbara.
- Sophomore ace Taran Alvelo tossed a complete-game shutout against No. 1 Oklahoma at the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge during opening week, allowing only five hits in seven innings. She faced 24 batters and allowed only five hits in the game.
- Alvelo is currently undefeated at 7-0 with two shutouts. In her eight games she has pitched 48 innings and has allowed only 14 earned runs.
- Last weekend at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic, freshman pitcher Samantha Manti had her first career start and complete game. She struck out 11 batters during the Huskies' 6-3 win over Northwestern.
- Freshman Sis Bates currently leads the team in hits (18) and triples (2). The freshman stud currently holds and OPS of 1.265.
- The team returns 15 student-athletes and five freshman in the 2017. The freshmen include: Sis Bates, Maggie Gallagher, Kaija Gibson, Samantha Manti and Alyssa Simons.
- Key returners for the Huskies include: Ali Aguilar, Casey Stangel, Taylor Van Zee, Trysten Melhart, Kelly Burdick, Madi Schreyer, Julia DePonte, Taran Alvelo and Morganne Flores.
- The Huskies are coming off a run in the post-season in 2016 where the team ended the season at Super Regionals against Alabama. Last season marked the program's 13th Super Regional appearance and 24th appearance in the post season overall.
- Washington is led-off at the plate by All-American Ali Aguilar, who returns for her final season. Aguilar is currently ranked seventh in program history for most runs scored with 177, eighth for RBI's with 168 and sixth for doubles with 46. Last season, Aguilar recorded 21 home runs, the fourth most for one season in program history.
- Juniors Julia DePonte and Taylor Van Zee also return to the lineup as power hitters for the Dawgs. Last season Van Zee totaled 16 doubles and DePonte recorded four triples.
While at the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge, the Huskies went on a 3-1. Washington beat No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 Auburn and Nebraska but fell to Brigham Young University. The team beat Auburn in ten innings, 6-5 and shutout the reigning national champions, Oklahoma, 1-0. Sophomore ace, Taran Alvelo, pitched both games.
PLAYER AWARDS
Pre-Season
Ali Aguilar- USA Softball Top Watchlist
Week 1
Taran Alvelo- NFCA Pitcher of the Week
Taran Alvelo- ESPNW Player of the Week
Taran Alvelo- Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week
Week 4
Ali Aguilar- Senior CLASS Top 30 Candidate
SUCCESS IN THE CLASSROOM
Washington softball boasted their highest cumulative GPA last quarter with a 3.34 team cumulative GPA. Eight of the team's 20 student-athletes earned a spot on the Dean's List after earning a 3.5 quarter GPA or higher. Junior Trysten Melhart received a 4.0.
IN THE COMMUNITY
During the team's off days members of the Washington Husky Softball program spend time at the Seattle Children's Hospital. There they play with the patients who are there long-term in the hospital's play and craft area.
HUSKIES ON THE AIR
This season the Huskies will have 21 games on television between three networks, ESPN3, the Pac-12 Network and the SEC Network. The Huskies' season opener versus Auburn on Feb. 9 will be aired on ESPN3. Their two game series at Alabama will be on the SEC Network. 18 of Washington's 21 conference games will be featured on the Pac-12 Network including the series against Arizona, UCLA, California, Oregon State and Utah.
UP NEXT
Next weekend the Huskies will play at home for the first time this season during the annual Husky Classic. The Classic consists of 11 games between Washington, Penn State, Seattle University, South Dakota and Minnesota. Washington will play in five games beginning at 3:45 p.m. PT on Friday, March 10 when the Huskies open against Minnesota.