After months of anticipation, the 2011 season is finally here for the ASU softball team.
In the sixth annual Kajikawa Classic, the No. 10 Sun Devils will host some of the nation’s top talent in the season opening tournament.
With teams such as No. 6 Oklahoma, No. 1 UA, Northwestern and No. 22 Oklahoma State participating in this weekend’s event, the competition will be second to none.
“It’s a great field,” ASU coach Clint Myers said. “You look at from top to bottom there’s probably the best field we’ve had. They’re so many top-50 teams that we have. You look at just what we have in the top 10. I think we’ve got six or seven Pac-10 teams and they’re all ranked. It is an outstanding field with Northwestern and Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, it just keeps going on from there.”
The Sun Devils will kick off their new season with a matchup against Western Michigan tonight at Farrington Stadium.
ASU has won six consecutive home openers, and went 5-1 in the Kajikawa Classic last year.
In the opener, the Sun Devils face a lot of unknowns against the Broncos.
“We don’t know a lot,” junior outfielder Annie Lockwood said. “But hopefully when we see them on Thursday during warm-ups we take notes mentally, and talk to our coaches about where that’s going to go, and really learn from the first inning all the way through and keep getting better throughout the game.”
ASU does know that the Broncos are coming off a 13-25-1 season and an 8-13-1 record in the MAC conference last year.
“We expect that they live in the cold and that they’re going to be excited to come out here and play on some dirt,” junior pitcher Hillary Bach said. “We don’t know much about them, but we know that they’re going to be a competitive team. We know that they’re going to bring nine of their best hitters out to play us.”
One of those best hitters for WMU is junior third basemen Gracie Barstad. She emerged as a constant threat at the plate in 2010 by leading the Broncos in several offensive categories.
Barstad posted a .348 batting average with 39 hits, 26 RBI and a strong .535 slugging percentage.
In the circle, the Sun Devils could face off against junior pitcher Meredith Whitney, who led the Bronco staff with 131 innings pitched last season. She also notched nine wins behind her 122 strikeouts.
Against WMU, the Sun Devils will counter with strong pitching of their own.
Myers said Bach and freshmen Dallas Escobedo and Mackenzie Popescue could all see time pitching in tonight’s game.
“We’re actually looking at trying to put a formula together to get all three pitchers in, so the order has not been really established,” Myers said. “If we can, we think it’s important because two of the three of our pitchers haven’t pitched an inning of college softball. It’s important to get them out there to become wily veterans as soon as possible.”
Following tonight’s contest, the Sun Devils will play five more games this weekend, including bouts against OU and OSU.
With the dawning of the new season, ASU is eager to get things started against the Broncos.
“It’s something that you wait for for eight months,” Bach said. “Since that last out in Florida, we’re like, man, ‘next year, next year.’ It’s exciting that it’s already here. I’m going to take it step by step so not rushing through it and not looking too far ahead in the future, but one game at a time.”
Reach the reporter at gregory.dillard@asu.edu
