SB Roundup 4-19: Utes and Beavers pick up historic series victories

A week of high drama in Pac-12 play, as 3 of the 4 series had a rubber game after splitting the first two. Oregon State took a series from UCLA for the first time ever, Washington took the series from the Ducks for the first time in 5 years, and Utah picked up its first two wins against a top-ranked (according to one poll, at least) team, the Arizona Wildcats.

#8 UCLA at Oregon State (Beavers win 2-1)

Beavers 8, Bruins 0 (5 inn)
Bruins 7, Beavers 5
Beavers 8, Bruins 5 (3-run walk-off home run by OSU’s Natalie Hampton)

#12 Washington at #4 Oregon (Huskies win 2-1)

Huskies 4, Ducks 2
Ducks 4, Huskies 1
Huskies 5, Ducks 3 (9 inn)

#2 Arizona at #14 Utah (Utes win 2-1)

Wildcats 5, Utes 1
Utes 6, Wildcats 3
Utes 3, Wildcats 2

#23 Arizona State at Stanford (Sun Devils sweep 3-0)

Devils 10, Cardinal 0 (5 inn)
Devils 9, Cardinal 1 (5 inn)
Devils 7, Cardinal 4 (9 inn)

California was off from Pac-12 play this past week, but did pick up three non-conference wins:

Cal 7, Santa Clara 0
Cal 8, Fresno State 0
Cal 2, Fresno State 1

High Five

Miranda Viramontes, pitcher, Utah

Viramontes was not as dominant as she has been in some outings this season, but against the top offense in the country, she got out of jams with little damage to help Utah get their first and second wins in program history against a #1 team (Arizona is ranked #1 in the USA Softball poll, but #2 in the NFCA poll, which I generally use).

10 ²⁄₃ innings
13 hits
3 runs (2 earned)
1 walk
5 strikeouts
2 wins

Alysha Everett, DP, Oregon State

A week after putting up strong numbers at Washington to help the Beavers avoid getting swept, Everett got even better to lift Oregon State to their first series win against UCLA ever.

5/8, HR, 2B
7 RBI
3 runs
3 walks

Taran Alvelo, pitcher, Washington

Alvelo had a Herculean effort in the Huskies series win at #4 Oregon, the Huskies’ first series win over the Ducks since 2012. She pitched all but 3 innings of the series despite not having her best stuff, and racked up big strikeout totals and a couple of wins in the process.

19 innings (no that’s not a typo)
12 hits
8 runs (5 earned)
22 strikeouts
11 walks

Ali Aguilar, SS, Washington

The senior shortstop didn’t start this season as well as she has in the past, leading her to be left off of some mid-season watch lists for individual awards. That may have been some motivation for her as Aguilar left her mark all over the Huskies series win in Eugene, reaching base 9 times and scoring 4 runs.

7/10, HR, 2B
2 RBI
4 runs
1 walk
1 HBP

Marisa Stankiewicz, 2B, Arizona State

Stankiewicz was retired just twice by Stanford pitching in 12 plate appearances to lead the Sun Devils to the sweep in Palo Alto.

6/8, 2B
3 RBI
4 runs
4 walks

Current Pac-12 Standings, with new Rankings (records as of current as of Tuesday 4/18):

#3 Arizona (43-3, 13-2 Pac-12)
#10 Utah (28-8, 10-3)
#6 Oregon (37-4, 10-4)
#9 Washington (31-10, 8-7)
#13 UCLA (30-12, 5-7)
#23 Arizona State (26-12, 5-7)
(RV) Oregon State (22-18, 4-8)
(RV) California (25-13, 3-8)
Stanford (17-22, 0-12)

This week’s schedule:

Featured series: #6 Oregon at #3 Arizona

Fri, 5 PM (P12 Net/OR/AZ)
Sat, 2 PM (ESPN2)
Sun, noon (ESPN2)

#10 Utah at #23 Arizona State

Fri, 7 PM (FREE at pac-12.com/live/arizona-state-university-2)
Sat, 4 PM (P12 Mtn/AZ)
Sun, 11 AM (P12 Mtn/AZ)

(RV) California at #13 UCLA

Fri, 7 PM (P12 Bay/LA)
Sat, 7 PM (P12 Net/Bay/LA)
Sun, 5 PM (P12 Net/Bay/LA)

Stanford at (RV) Oregon State

Fri, 3 PM (P12 Net/Bay/OR)
Sat, 1 PM (no TV)
Sun, noon (no TV)

The 9th-ranked Huskies are off from Pac-12 play this week, but make a non-conference trip to Alabama for three games:

Thursday, 4 PM: Washington at UAB (no TV)
Friday, 4 PM: Washington at #12 Alabama (SECNetwork+: available online with corresponding TV package at espn.com/watchespn)
Saturday, 2:30 PM: Washington at #12 Alabama (SECNetwork+)