In the third year under head coach Megan Bartlett, ASU softball has reentered the national spotlight, finishing with a 34-18 regular season record and five wins over ranked opponents.
After two seasons under .500, Bartlett has guided the Sun Devils to a likely NCAA tournament appearance. This would be the first under Bartlett, and the first since ASU won the Pac-12 in 2022.
Before the national tournament, the Sun Devils will look to stir the pot in the Big 12 Softball Championship. With a 14-10 conference record, ASU is looking at the No. 4 seed.
While their regular season is over, the rest of the Big 12 still has one weekend left. ASU will likely play BYU or Oklahoma State in its first tournament matchup.
ASU won the regular-season series against BYU, with freshman infielder Tiare Ho-Ching knocking in both winning runs for the Sun Devils. Oklahoma State beat ASU 4-0 in Tempe in the teams' only meeting.
BYU is led by freshman catcher Ilove'a Brittingham, who's batting .418 with 18 home runs and 65 RBIs. Junior pitcher Kaysen Korth is 15-5 with a 2.30 ERA in 115.2 innings. Korth gave up four hits and a run in the Sun Devils' 1-0 win over the Cougars in her first loss of the year.
Oklahoma State has a very balanced offense with sophomores Tia Warsop and Rosie Davis batting .370 and .353, respectively. Junior pitcher Ruby Meylan is the star in the circle for the Cowgirls, pitching a 19-7 record with 2 saves and a 1.58 ERA. Meylan gave up four hits in Oklahoma State's shutout against ASU on April 2.
The Big 12 tournament begins May 7 with the first three games. Seeds one through five receive a bye and will start tournament play on May 8. Texas Tech has already locked in the No. 1 seed with an 18-3 conference record going into the final weekend.
Four Red Raiders are hitting over .350, with Raegan Jennings, Mihyia Davis, Lauren Allred and Logan Halleman all reaching the mark. Davis leads the team with 69 hits and has started every game this season.
Texas Tech's pitching is just as lethal, led by junior NiJaree Canady. Before transferring to Texas Tech, Canady was the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year in 2024 and was named to the Women's College World Series All-Tournament Team each of the past two years with Stanford.
Over 150.2 innings, Canady is 21-5 with a 0.88 ERA and has struck out 220 batters. Canady pitched two shutouts against ASU for Texas Tech.
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While the Sun Devils' regular season may be over, the Big 12 standings aren't set in stone. ASU can finish as high as third and as low as sixth. Third-place Iowa State plays Baylor, and fifth-place BYU plays conference leader Texas Tech and sixth-place Oklahoma State plays 13-36 Utah.
The team's sights are on a trip to Oklahoma City for the Big 12 tournament, and potentially another trip to the Sooner State for the Women's College World Series this summer.
Edited by Jack Barron, Abigail Beck and Katrina Michalak.
Reach the reporter at aldeutsc@asu.edu and follow @AlanDeutschend3 on X.
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Alan is a sophomore studying sports journalism. This is his second semester with The State Press. He has also worked at Blaze Radio.
