The Oregon softball team faces two of the top teams in the Pacific-10 Conference starting today when it hosts No. 1-ranked Arizona State at 4 p.m.
The Sun Devils boast a 39-2 (3-0 in Pac-10) record this year having most recently swept their three-game Bay Area road trip by a combined score of 13-2.
They are led by pitcher Katie Burkhart who owns a 20-2 record and 0.55 ERA. She has struck out 256 batters in 140 innings while walking only 18.
As a team, Arizona State’s offense bats .346, gets on base 45 percent of the time and has a slugging percentage of .591.
The team has scored 323 runs while only allowing 75.
The Ducks then take on No. 8 Arizona (25-9, 2-1), which won last year’s national championship, on Saturday and Sunday.
The Wildcats are led by the senior battery of pitcher Taryne Mowatt, who’s struck out 1,066 batters in her career, and catcher Callista Balko, who is tied for the team lead in home runs with 11 and is second on the team in RBIs (31).
Mowatt has an ERA of 1.83, having stuck out 212 batters in 137.2 innings.
The Wildcats bat .306 as a team, scoring 247 runs while holding their opponents to a .194 batting average and 66 runs.
Oregon (25-14) is coming off of Wednesday’s 7-4 loss to Oregon State and is winless in its three conference games.
Friday and Sunday’s games will be broadcast on the Oregon Sports Network.
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