Home is where the heart is, and No. 21 ASU softball is hoping it's also where the wins are.
After a 10-game road slate that took the Sun Devils (27-15, 5-6 Pac-12) to Tucson, Las Cruces, El Paso and Eugene in the span of six days, ASU returns to Tempe on Friday to face the Oregon State Beavers (23-17, 4-11 Pac-12) in the first of a three-game series.
ASU head coach Craig Nicholson discussed the mindset of his team going into the weekend.
"We've got to stay confident and believe in what we're doing," Nicholson said. "I think we'll be excited to be back at home because we've been on the road so much lately."
The Sun Devils will look to get back on track after being swept 3-0 by No. 1 Oregon last weekend to finish the lengthy late-season road trip at 5-5.
Nicholson sees adversity on the trip as an experience that will pay off come postseason.
"This team is pretty seasoned on the road," Nicholson said. "I think we've done a pretty good job of playing on the road and playing in some different environments. If we're forced to do that in the postseason, I think we'll be ready."
Oregon State comes into the weekend riding a six-game losing streak, dropping eight of its past nine Pac-12 games with its only series win coming in the form of a sweep over lowly Stanford.
The Beavers are led in the batters box by senior outfielder Dani Gilmore. The lefty is batting .369 with eight home runs and 31 RBI on the season.
Leading the charge in the circle for OSU this season has been junior Beverly Miller, who boasts a record of 15-12 with a 3.41 ERA and 115 strikeouts.
Oregon State is coached by former collegiate and Olympic softball standout Laura Berg, a four-time All-American and NCAA champion at Fresno State who won four Olympic medals (three gold) for team USA.
Nicholson sees a lot of the toughness in this Beaver team that Berg exhibited in her softball career.
"(Oregon State) is just scrappy. They play the game hard and they play the game right," Nicholson said. "The team takes on the personality of their coach, and Laura (Berg) was just a hard-nosed player and did a lot of the little things the right way."
This series will provide more than just an opportunity for the Sun Devils and Beavers to fight for Pac-12 positioning.
Saturday's game provides an opportunity for both teams to help fight a disease that has afflicted millions of women at one time or another: breast cancer.
On Saturday, ASU will wear pink uniforms to support breast cancer awareness as part of the NFCA "Strike Out Cancer" campaign.
Check out our #PinkGame Uniforms for this Saturday at 7pm vs Oregon State! #NFCAStrikeOut #DevilsWearPink pic.twitter.com/DViPqYIB36
— Sun Devil Softball (@ASUSoftball) April 14, 2015
Nicholson said that, especially since he coaches women, this yearly event holds great importance.
"I've been fortunate to not have any players in the past 20 years that I can think of that have had issues with cancer," Nicholson said. "I have four women in my family, and I think we're just trying to do our part to raise a little bit of money and make sure that everyone is aware of the cause. It's something that we have to continue to fight and battle with until we find a cure."
Game one of the ASU-OSU series will begin on Friday at 7 p.m., with first pitch of the "Pink Game" scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday at Farrington Stadium.
Reach the reporter at rclarke6@asu.edu or follow @RClarkeASU on Twitter.
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