Husky Softball ups winning streak to seven with road sweep of California

The University of Washington softball team picked up three hard-fought wins in the East Bay this past weekend, taking out the Golden Bears in Berkeley by scores of 4-0, 4-2, and 3-2. Kelly Burdick made multiple fantastic catches in center field in the Huskies sweep, including this one diving in shallow right-center:

Casey Stangel launched her team-leading 11th home run of the season to drive in the first three runs of game two:

Three Cheers

One cheer for sophomore catcher Morganne Flores, who despite not adding much to her team-leading RBI total, smacked four hits in the series and threw out one of the fastest players in the conference trying to steal, Cal’s Lauren Rood. The quickness of release by Flores is really impressive.

4/9, double, RBI

Two cheers for sophomore pitcher Taran Alvelo, who really could be in the top spot each week, but I try to move this around a little bit so doesn’t just look like I’m copying and pasting the same article. Alvelo pitched 16 innings on the weekend, picking up complete game wins in the first and third games, and she got a save in the middle game as well after relieving Sam Manti. She was nearly unhittable in game 1, throwing a four-hit shutout, then was able to work out of jams enough in game 3.

16 innings, 14 hits, 2 runs (both earned), 2 walks, 7 strikeouts, 2 wins, 1 save

Three cheers for junior third baseman Taylor Van Zee, who drove in almost half of the runs scored by UW over the weekend. Her two-run single in the first inning of game three put the Dawgs up 3-0, and Alvelo was able to make that lead hold for seven innings.

4/10, double, 5 RBI

Pac-12 Standings with new rankings

1. #3 Arizona (47-5, 17-4 Pac-12)
2. #10 Utah (32-9, 12-4)
3. #5 Oregon (41-6, 14-6)
4. #7 Washington (37-10, 11-7)
5. #12 UCLA (37-12, 11-7)
6. #22 Arizona State (28-16, 7-11)
7. Oregon State (24-22, 6-12)
8. California (27-19, 3-14)
9. Stanford (18-27, 1-17)

This week’s schedule

This week marks the final regular-season homestand for the Huskies. A mid-week showdown with crosstown rival Seattle U, rescheduled from the Husky Classic way back in early March, will be at Husky Softball Stadium tonight (Wed) at 6 PM.

Then from Friday through Sunday, UW plays their final Pac-12 home games of the season against Stanford. The Cardinal has played a bit better recently, with their one conference win and multiple close losses in their last five games, although 1-17 isn’t good, no matter how much you sugarcoat it.

The unfortunate part about this not being exactly a marquee matchup is that it will not be televised. There’s always a live stats link at GoHuskies.com, and for the Seattle U game and at least one of the Stanford games, I plan to tweet out plays and analysis on my Twitter account (@DawgoneCrazy). If you can, come out and see this awesome team one last time before they move on to the postseason and celebrate the careers of seniors Ali Aguilar and Casey Stangel.

Wed, 6 PM: Seattle U
Fri, 6 PM: Stanford
Sat, 1 PM: Stanford
Sun, noon: Stanford