They’ve seen the Huskies before.

They know their strengths and weaknesses, they’ve faced their best pitcher and this weekend, players on the No. 8 ASU softball team (36-9, 6-4 Pac-10) are coming back with an advantage.

Three weeks ago, the Sun Devils headed north to take on No. 3 Washington (34-7, 7-4) for a two-game series in which ASU lost both games, 11-3 and 3-2, respectively.

But since then, the Sun Devils said they have improved.

“I think the biggest thing we learned [from the Washington series] is that we can compete with anyone in the nation,” senior outfielder Kaitlin Cochran said. “[UW’s ace] Danielle Lawrie is a great pitcher, and we scored off of her, and we really battled it out throughout the whole game. I think that knowing that we can hit off a great pitcher gives us confidence, especially going into this game.”

One of the continuing areas of improvement for the Sun Devils has been in the pitching circle with freshman Hillary Bach.

ASU’s young ace — who is 21-3 with a 2.59 ERA this season — lost a one-run decision to UW when the teams last met, but she said her confidence has grown since.

“On [April 4] it was close,” Bach said. “But in the bottom of the seventh, I made a few too many freshman mistakes, so I’m going to work on that and come out stronger. We’re prepared, we know what they have, and we’re going to play our game.”

Bach said that the experience she has gained in the few games that have come since their last meeting with the Huskies gives the Sun Devils the advantage.

“I’ve faced their batters before,” she said. “I know their strengths and weaknesses. I’ve become better myself; I’ve learned. I’ve played games since then and gotten better. I’ve worked on execution and better locations.”

This weekend’s games are crucial for ASU, as the Sun Devils trail the Huskies by half a game in the conference standings.

“We’re just going to go out there and play ASU softball,” Cochran said. “We’re going to take the same approach that we had against Danielle Lawrie because we felt that it did work for us pretty well. We’re just going to try and play our game the best we can — not make little mistakes, making the plays we’re supposed to make and not give them any extra opportunities to score or to get us.”

After Friday’s game against the Huskies, the Sun Devils will begin a two-game home stand against No. 2 UCLA (32-8, 7-4) — a team that claims the most national titles in history.

The Bruins lead the all-time series over the Sun Devils 86-23, but in their earlier meeting this season, the Sun Devils scored a 5-0 win over the Bruins.

“We have to come out ready to play each game,” Cochran said. “We don’t know the outcome of the game — there is no dominant team. It’s anyone’s title to grab, so that’s why we have to come out ready to win against anyone. Anyone can beat anyone on any given day.”

Reach the reporter at emiley.darling@asu.edu.