#NCAASoftball Seattle Regional Preview

Schedule

(All games will have a dedicated stream via ESPN3. Potential appearances on physical TV for games on Saturday and Sunday will be announced the night before.)

• G1: Seattle (29-19, 11-5 WAC) vs Michigan (36-6 Big Ten) — Fri, 5pm, ESPN2/ESPN3
• G2: Portland State (15-24, 8-10 Big Sky) vs #16 Washington (41-11, 18-5 Pac-12) — Fri, ~7:30pm, ESPN3
• G3: Winner G1 vs Winner G2 — Sat, 3pm
• G4: Loser G2 vs Loser G2 — Sat, ~5:30pm
• G5: Loser G3 vs Winner G4 — Sat, ~8pm
• G6: Winner G3 vs Winner G5 — Sun, 5pm
• G7 (if necessary): Rematch of G6 — Sun, ~7:30pm

Key Players to Watch

• Michigan’s fantastic 1-2 punch in the circle of Alex Storako and Meghan Beaubien dwarfs everyone else in the Big Ten. Storako’s leads the entire county in K/7 at 13.0; her 0.88 ERA ties for fifth nationally and is second behind UCLA’s Rachel Garcia among the Power Five. Beaubien has a 1.14 ERA and has allowed just 3 home runs in 135.1 innings.
• Michigan OF Lexie Blair and 1B Lou Allan rank 2nd and 3rd in the Big Ten in batting average at .411 and .385. Allan’s 42 RBI leads the Big Ten.
• Seattle U has the #1, #2 and #3 pitchers in the WAC by earned run average: Carley Nance (2.76), Stefanie Madrigal (3.02) and Shi Smith (3.17).
• Seattle C Bailey Thompson leads SU in doubles (14), homers (9), slugging (.624), and OPS (1.053)
• Portland State RF Marissa Bruno leads the Vikings in batting average (.401, 3rd in Big Sky) and the entire Big Sky in stolen bases (19)
• Portland State C Rachel Menlove leads PSU in doubles (7), homers (8), slugging (.636), and OPS (1.041).

Series History

Portland State: The Huskies are 42-1 all-time vs the Vikings, playing at least once every year from 1998 to 2011 (and often multiple times). The schools have played just four times in the past decade, two of which came earlier this year when UW won 8-0 (5 innings) and 5-2 at the Husky Classic on March 13-14. The only PSU win in the series was 4-2 (8 innings) in 2008, when UW’s roster took a big hit with multiple players redshirting mid-career to focus on the Olympics. The schools have met only once in the postseason — 12th-seeded Washington won 6-2 on May 19, 2011 in the regional opener, which UW would go on to win over BYU before falling in Super Regional to 5th-seeded Missouri.

Seattle U: The Huskies are 16-0 all-time vs the Redhawks, playing at least once in 10 of the 13 years since SU rejoined DI in 2009 (2013, 2016, 2020). UW absolutely dominated the first 11 meetings up through 2015, winning by run-rule eight times and never by fewer than four runs. Former Oregon State assistant Geoff Hirai was named Head Coach in 2016 and SU has fared much better against UW, especially on the pitching side: UW hasn’t scored more than five runs in any game since. Redhawks were in the Seattle Regional when they made their first DI postseason appearance in 2019 but never met the Huskies.

Michigan: The Huskies are 13-8 all-time vs the Wolverines. The schools have split six total postseason matchups:

• May 18, 2002 (Ann Arbor Regional): #11 Michigan wins 6-5 over #6 Washington. UW would then be eliminated later that day by #20 Ohio State.
• May 27-28, 2005 (Ann Arbor Super Regional): In the first year of Super Regionals, top-seeded Michigan won the series 4-1, 2-3, 11-2 (6) en route to winning the national title, becoming the first team East of the Mississippi River to ever do so.
• May 20-21, 2017 (Seattle Regional): 6th-seeded Washington won 12-4 (5) and 4-2 to advance to Super Regionals. UW would end up as a national semifinalist, knocking off Oregon and UCLA at the WCWS before eventually being eliminated by runner-up Florida.