If there’s one thing players on the No. 7 ASU softball team (37-13, 7-8 Pac-10) have learned in their last four games, it’s that they are not yet playing their best softball.

The Sun Devils haven’t quite found their niche, and halfway through the Pac-10 regular season, they still haven’t peaked.

But maybe that’s not such a bad thing.

“You’re always working, but if you know in your mind that you’re not at your best, then you know there’s room for improvement,” senior outfielder Jessica Mapes said. “I don’t think we want to be peaking at this point; we could definitely be playing better where we are at right now, but it’s better to peak when it’s important.”

As the Sun Devils come closer to the end of the regular season they hope that peak will come in the playoffs.

They are using Wednesday night’s doubleheader losses against UA, and the two losses last weekend to UCLA as motivation; it has given them a sense of urgency to get the offense on track.

“We just lost four games in a row, and I don’t think we’ve done that in a long time,” Mapes said. “We’re hungry to get out there and score some runs.”

This weekend, the Sun Devils will travel to California to start its six-game road trip against Stanford and Cal, hoping that hitting the road may be just enough to change their performance.

“Playing at home is definitely an advantage, and it’s definitely nice,” Mapes said. “But it might be good to have a change of scenery — it might pick us up a little bit to change our environment and change our performance.”

In their last meeting, the Sun Devils upset the Cardinal in Tempe, 10-1, and had an eight-run second inning.

They took two of three last year, and swept the Cardinal in 2007.

“You always learn, every time you see a team play you learn something from it,” Mapes said. “Any Pac-10 team is going to be phenomenal; it’s a tough race.”

Stanford is coming off of a win over Oregon State on Saturday and just secured its 11th 40-win season. Still, the Cardinal trails the Sun Devils 28-21 all-time.

In order for the Sun Devils to be successful this weekend, they are going to have to go back to the basics.

“We are definitely going to need to check ourselves and our attitudes,” freshman infielder Christina Zambrana said. “We need to stay positive. We need to know that we can do it as a team. That’s why we’re here; no one person is better than another, and we need to pull through, keep ourselves in line and get it done.”

After the Sun Devils finish up at Stanford on Friday they will travel to meet the Golden Bears for the last two games of their series on Saturday and Sunday.

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