Husky Softball Notebook: PNW Sweep

Seventh-ranked Washington finished a two-week sweep of the Beaver State with three wins over Oregon State:

• UW 5, OSU 2
• UW 5, OSU 0
• UW 8, OSU 0 (5 inn.)

Notes

• Combined with a three-game sweep at Oregon the previous weekend, UW finishes the regular season 6-0 against their regional rivals. It marks the first time the Huskies have gone undefeated against their two Northwest rivals in 10 years — a year in which, oh, by the way, they won a national championship.
• After a slow start offensively, the batting average and on-base percentage for junior shortstop Sis Bates are back in more familiar territory, as her .370 BA and .457 OBP are both above career averages and only slightly off her sophomore career-highs. Her slugging is still well off, though: Bates has just one triple and no home runs in 108 at-bats. She’s getting close: her Friday double against the Beavers was a few feet short of being a homer, which has now happened multiple times in the past few weeks.
• Redshirt junior catcher Morganne Flores looks to be back to her pre-injury form. Hitting just .268 with four home runs entering the final game of the UCLA series, Flores has hit seven long balls in the eight games since, putting her just two short of her sophomore total of 13 while also pushing her batting average up to .311.

Pac-12 Standings (records through 4/4, rankings are NFCA Coaches/Softball America):

1. #9/5 Arizona (29-7, 9-0 Pac-12)
2. #1/1 UCLA (32-1, 6-0)
3. RV/NR Stanford (26-6, 4-1)
4. #6/8 Washington (29-6, 6-3)
5. #21/NR Arizona State (25-11, 5-4)
6. Utah (13-21, 2-4)
7. California (21-15, 1-7)
8. Oregon State (19-13, 1-8)
9. Oregon (13-18, 1-8)

Around the Pac-12

• UCLA is on a 16-game winning streak for the second time this season after sweeping Cal in their Pac-12 home opening series, but it didn’t come easily. The banged-up Golden Bears had a one-run lead in the seventh on Friday before losing 3-2 in eight, and lost just 1-0 on Saturday as well before UCLA’s offense woke up a bit on Sunday in a 6-0 win.
• Wildcats shut out arch-rival Arizona State for three straight games. Hyped up as a head-to-head matchup of the two highest scoring teams in the country, Arizona pitching absolutely dominated as the Sun Devils managed just six hits in the entire series. It’s the first time UA has ever shut out ASU in the season series, and the first time shutting out any Pac-12 opponent for a three-game series since the conference switched to the current scheduling format in 2010.
• Stanford rallied out of big early deficits twice to win their second straight series as they took two of three from the Ducks in Palo Alto. Despite getting their first win but nothing else, Oregon had their best offensive performance since winning six straight to open the season in early February, as they grabbed big early leads in all three games:
  G1: Oregon leads 4-0 after T1; Stanford wins 8-6
  G2: Oregon leads 6-0 after T2; Oregon wins 7-2
  G3: Oregon leads 5-0 after T3; Stanford wins 7-6
• Utah was off from conference play. The Utes hosted #2 Oklahoma for a brief two-game series, and it went about as expected, as the Sooners cruised to 11-2 and 13-3 run-rule wins. The losses to OU are reasonable; the midweek losses before and after (5-1 at Weber State on March 27 and 5-2 vs. Utah Valley 5-2 on April 2) are much less so. There’s no sugarcoating it: Utah is struggling mightily.

Pac-12 Schedule

All conference series are Friday to Sunday.

• #6/8 Washington at California
• #9/5 Arizona at Utah
• #1/1 UCLA at #21/NR Arizona State
• RV/NR Stanford at Oregon State

Oregon is off from conference play in week four. The Ducks will travel to Columbia, Mo., where they will play Pittsburgh and host RV/NR Missouri twice each.

*Washington-California*

The Huskies and Golden Bears meet for a three-game series at Levine-Fricke Field in Berkeley. All three games can be seen for free at https://pac-12.com/live/university-california-11

Friday, 3 p.m.

Saturday, 1 p.m.

Sunday, noon

The Bears offense is below-average for the Pac-12, but there is one player worth a lot of attention. Senior shortstop and leadoff hitter Lindsay Rood has a .449/.493/.693 slash line and has stolen 24 bases without being caught once. She has some pop (19 XBH including four HR), but expect UW pitchers to go right after her, because walking her basically puts a runner on second.

Cal got a boost in the circle against UCLA with senior Kamalani Dung returning after missing nearly two weeks. Much like Taran Alvelo and Gabbie Plain, Dung pairs with co-ace Zoe Conley very well stylistically. Dung and Alvelo both throw harder and higher in the zone, getting popups and a higher strikeout rate. Conley and Plain are ground ball specialists, pitching generally at the knees with more consistent control.