Sun Devil softball faces Oregon State and Mazon, scheduling, bracketology

Unless something changes, No. 10 Arizona State softball heads to Oregon State for its final regular season series starting on Friday.

Facing Mariah Mazon

The Beavers aren’t having the greatest season at a 16-23, 3-15 Pac-12. However, two-way player Mariah Mazon certainly can carry them to a win.

Mazon has had her success against Arizona State previously. In 2018, she earned a win over the Sun Devils with a complete game, allowing only two runs. Mazon also went toe-to-toe against Giselle “G” Juarez for 15 innings in that series finale as well.

The Beavers also started the 2019 conference slate beating Arizona State in Tempe behind Mazon’s five-hitter. Although, the last time the Sun Devil bats faced her, they scored nine runs in two innings.

Nevertheless, Mazon can single-handedly take a game from Arizona State like she did against Oregon this season. The All-American is also second in hits and RBIs for the Beavers.

Scheduling

The two teams announced that the series will be a regular three-game set, taking out the non-conference game. Neither program has a ton of pitching depth compared to other teams this season.

Arizona State has the bye weekend next week while everyone else in the Pac-12 finishes their regular seasons.

With the Cal series being canceled in April, it means that the Sun Devils, in a span of April 19-May 20 (day before regionals starts), will have played only seven games.

The extra rest might be good but will there be any rest in the weekend of the regional? In comparison, Ole Miss, a team from the SEC likely to be a two-seed in a regional, will have played 10 games plus the SEC Tournament. So it might not truly be that big of a difference.

If Arizona State did try to schedule games for the May 14 weekend, who would it play? UC Riverside (7-23) from the Big West has an open weekend.

UNLV (25-12), a team second in the Mountain West, just had a non-conference series against San Diego canceled for that weekend. There are a few possibilities if ASU wanted to play before the postseason.

Bracketology

Here is my take on the bracket, never done this before so bare with me if I screw something up.

Los Angeles Regional

1. UCLA* (1)
2. James Madison*
3. Fresno State*
4. Cal State Fullerton*

Ann Arbor Regional

1. Michigan* (16)
2. Tennessee
3. Miami (OH)*
4. Youngstown State*

Norman Regional

1. Oklahoma* (2)
2. Wichita State
3. Stanford
4. North Texas*

Lexington Regional

1. Kentucky (15)
2. Virginia Tech
3. Illinois State*
4. DePaul*

Gainesville Regional

1. Florida (3)
2. UCF
3. Boston*
4. UMBC*

Eugene Regional

1. Oregon (14)
2. Texas A&M
3. Villanova
4. Weber State*

Tuscaloosa Regional

1. Alabama (4)
2. Liberty*
3. Troy
4. Morgan State*

Tucson Regional

1. Arizona (13)
2. Georgia
3. Baylor
4. BYU*

Fayetteville Regional

1. Arkansas* (5)
2. Duke
3. Northwestern
4. Monmouth*

Clemson Regional

1. Clemson* (12)
2. Auburn
3. George Washington
4. Western Carolina*

Tallahassee Regional

1. Florida State (6)
2. South Florida*
3. Mississippi State
4. Fordham*

Baton Rouge Regional

1. LSU (11)
2. Louisiana*
3. Iowa State
4. Campbell*

Stillwater Regional

1. Oklahoma State (7)
2. Ole Miss
3. Texas State
4. Stephen F. Austin*

Seattle Regional

1. Washington (10)
2. Notre Dame
3. South Alabama
4. South Dakota State*

Tempe Regional

1. Arizona State (8)
2. Texas
3. South Carolina
4. New Mexico State*

Columbia Regional

1. Missouri (9)
2. Minnesota
3. Delaware
4. Southeast Missouri*