Some seasons, softball is a game of luck. Sometimes teams see very little injuries and other times a whole slew of injuries occur.
In Stanford’s case, its bad luck came in the form of one key injury. Without freshman ace Teagan Gerhart (22-6, 1.67 ERA), who injured her arm earlier this month, the No. 14 Cardinal has lost seven of its last eight games. The lone win came Tuesday over nonconference opponent San Jose State.
Gerhart’s absence and recent struggles mean little to the ASU softball team, though, as the No. 9 Sun Devils (37-10, 6-6 Pac-10) are treating this weekend’s three-game series in Palo Alto, Calif., like any other.
“They [were] on a losing streak … but that doesn’t really mean anything because when Cal came in, they were 1-5 (in the Pac-10) and they swept us,” sophomore shortstop Katelyn Boyd said. “We’re expecting them to come out and be scrappy.”
Stanford (31-12, 4-8) will have to be scrappy in the final weeks of Pac-10 play if it wants to finish any higher than seventh in the conference. Even there, however, Stanford is almost certainly bound for the postseason.
ASU is looking to avoid another drop-off after taking two of three games from Oregon last weekend. The previous two weekends saw the Sun Devils sweep UCLA on the road and get swept at home by California.
“Other than UCLA, we haven’t been able to put back-to-back-to-back good games together,” ASU coach Clint Myers said.
With Gerhart likely out of the lineup again this weekend, ASU’s offense, which is fourth in the nation in scoring, will have an opportunity to get going again after falling off the past few weeks.
Without Gerhart, the Cardinal pitching staff is 9-6 with a 4.44 ERA and is allowing a .267 opponent batting average, which ranks seventh of out of the eight teams in the Pac-10. Junior Ashley Chinn (7-4, 3.41 ERA) and freshman Jenna Rich (2-2, 5.41 ERA) have shouldered the load with Gerhart out. Myers said no matter who takes the circle, pitching remains a key.
“The No.1 ranked team in the nation [Washington] has got the supposed best pitcher,” Myers said. “Pitching is always an important part of any series.”
ASU sophomore pitcher Hillary Bach was able to bounce back last weekend from a two-loss weekend against Cal by winning both her starts against UO. Bach is now 19-4 with a 2.10 ERA.
“She’s on the right road,” Myers said. “She’s not where she needs to be, and she’s not where she will be.”
Bach won’t be facing as many offensive threats as she has in recent weeks, as the Cardinal has the fewest hits (332) and home runs (29) and third-lowest team batting average (.305) in the Pac-10. Rich leads the offense with a .321 batting average, 39 RBI and 11 home runs. Senior outfielder Alissa Haber sports the Pac-10’s second-best batting average at .450.
Bach will likely have to be crafty though, as Stanford hitters have struck out the fewest times in the conference (152).
“I just want to make sure that I go in with confidence and that I’m playing softball for the reason I started — the passion and the love of the game,” Bach said.
Myers said he wants three wins this weekend and has his sights set on a Pac-10 title. This weekend and the next, against lowly Oregon State, offer ASU a good place to work toward that goal.
“We have an opportunity to get six wins,” Myers said.
The Sun Devils could win the Pac-10 title if the top-ranked Huskies lose one more conference game and ASU sweeps them at home. For now though, ASU is focusing on the task at hand.
“I think we’ll have to be firing on all cylinders [against Stanford],” Boyd said. “We need to be locked in.”
ASU opens the series Friday at 7 p.m. and continues Saturday at 1 p.m. The series concludes Sunday at noon.
Reach the reporter at
tyler.lockman@asu.edu
