University of Washington
Arizona State
Softball Opens Pac-12 Play This Weekend
March 16, 2017 | Softball
THIS WEEK: WASHINGTON VS ARIZONA STATE
The sixth-ranked Huskies (15-3) will host No. 21 Arizona State University in Seattle this Friday-Sunday for the opening weekend of Pac-12 play. The pair will open their series at Husky Softball Stadium on Friday, March 17 at 2 p.m. Their second game will take place on Saturday, March 18 at 1 p.m., followed by a game on Sunday, March 18 at 12 p.m.
LAST TIME OUT
The No. 6 University of Washington softball program just came off a 6-0 weekend after shutting out Penn State in a two-game series and going 4-0 in the Husky Classic. In their home opening weekend the team run-ruled Penn State, South Dakota and No. 7 Minnesota. On the Classic's first day the team snapped Minnesota's longest program 2in streak after entering the weekend 19-0.
HUSKIES AT A GLANCE
>> Last Friday's 3-2 win over No. 7 Minnesota marked Coach Tarr's 500th win as Washington head coach. She finished the weekend with her 504th win.
>> Sophomore ace Taran Alvelo (12-1) threw a three-hitter against No. 7 Minnesota last Sunday and didn't give up a single run and allowed only three hits over five innings. The three hits marked the fewest for Minnesota this season.
>> Freshman pitcher Samantha Manti earned her third and fourth wins of her young collegiate career. In two complete games against Penn State and South Dakota she gave up only four hits and no runs.
>> Morganne Flores hit four home runs in five at bats in the Husky Classic. The sophomore catcher totaled for eight runs, nine hits and 12 RBIs on the weekend. Flores leads the team in home runs with eight.
>> Ali Aguilar hit two home runs last weekend during the team's wins over Penn State and Minnesota. Her home run in the third inning against Penn State was a grand slam. The senior has three home runs this season.
>> Casey Stangel and Julia DePonte each blasted a home run over the fence last weekend. Stangel is ranked second on the team for home runs with six.
>> Freshman Sis Bates currently leads the team in hits (33) and triples (4). The freshman stud currently holds a .458 batting average and a .481 on base percentage.
>> 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.
THIS TIME LAST YEAR
In 2016 the team was 25-3 heading into conference play. Like this season, the Huskies went undefeated in the 2016 Husky Classic. The team had wins over Top-25 teams such as Oklahoma (9), South Dakota (20), central Florida (15), Michigan (2) and Fresno State (22).
COACH TARR TO THE USA WOMEN'S NATIONAL TEAM
USA Softball announced Monday the complete coaching staff for the USA Softball Women's National Team and Washington head coach, Heather Tarr's name was on that list. Tarr and four other current NCAA collegiate coaches were selected from the USA Softball WNT Coaching Pool and will lead the members of the 2017 Women's National Team as they compete around the country this summer.
GET THE DUB
The Huskies currently boast a 1,012-411-2 all-time record with a 307-241 conference record. The team has appeared in 24 NCAA Tournaments in its 25 years, including 13 Super Regionals and one National Championship.
LAST TIME FACING A TOP 25 TEAM
Last time the Huskies faced a top 25 ranked team was during the Husky Classic when they faced No. 7 Minnesota. Washington went 2-0 against the top-ten ranked team, defeating them 3-2 and 9-0 in nine innings.
INSIDE THE SERIES
The Huskies last faced Arizona State in April 2016. The Huskies collected three wins on the series, winning by at least three runs in each of the three games. Washington leads the series all-time with a record of 54-28.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
The Sun Devils enter the weekend ranked No. 21 with a 19-5 overall record. Last weekend Arizona State pushed through 37 runs in four games. Arizona State has a .292 batting average on the season and are led by head coach Trisha Ford. The first year head coach at Arizona State previously coached at St. Mary's and Fresno State and has a 118-115-1 all-time career record.
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.
While in Puerto Vallarta for the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge the team and staff were bussed to a local elementary school. While there the team and coaches taught the childeren ages from kindergarten to eighth grade softball drills and fundamentals.
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 week the Huskies will travel to Arizona to first play a double-header against Grand Canyon University on Wednesday, March 22 beginning at 3 p.m. They will then face No. 5 Arizona for a three game series in Tucson beginning on Friday, March 24.
