Softball: No. 17 Arizona vs No. 22 ASU by the numbers

It seems really early for the Pac-12 softball season to be starting, but Arizona head coach Caitlin Lowe pointed out that it’s just one week sooner than usual. The earlier start was instituted to accommodate the inaugural Pac-12 Softball Tournament, which will be held in Rita Hillenbrand Memorial Stadium after the regular season.

It’s also rivalry week for the Wildcats and the Sun Devils. How do the two teams stack up after the first few weeks of the season?

Pitching

Both teams have undergone a lot of changes in the circle. Arizona lost players due to graduation and transfer. ASU saw a slew of players depart after former head coach Trisha Ford left to take over at Texas A&M. Among those were pitchers Lindsay Lopez and Mac Morgan. Lopez stayed in the Pac-12, transferring to Washington. Morgan landed with the reigning national runners-up at Texas.

Arizona

The Wildcats’ undeniable leader in the circle is junior Devyn Netz. She has pitched 57.1 innings this season, more than twice as many as Arizona’s next pitcher. Over those 57.1 innings, she has amassed an ERA of 2.08 and a WHIP of 0.99. She has struck out 45 and walked 11 while allowing 46 hits and 17 earned runs. Batters hit .214 against her.

Behind Netz are two freshmen, Sydney Somerndike and Aissa Silva. Somerndike has a few more innings under her belt, leading Silva 22.2 to 19.0 IP. Silva has the slightly better ERA and WHIP, leading her fellow freshman 2.21 to 2.47 in ERA and 0.95 to 0.97 in WHIP.

Somerndike has struck out 17 while only walking three and giving up 19 hits. That has led to eight earned runs. Silva has struck out 14 with five walks and 13 hits. She has surrendered six earned runs.

Staff ERA: 2.53

Staff WHIP: 1.07

Staff hits given up: 100

Staff home runs surrendered: 17

Staff walks: 30

Staff strikeouts: 97

Staff batting average against: .218

Arizona State

The Sun Devils have spread out their innings more than the Wildcats have. ASU has three pitchers with roughly similar innings pitched in Kenzie Brown (30.1), Mac Osborne (30.0), and Kylee Magee (26.1). Like last year, former Wildcat Marissa Schuld is not pitching as many innings as most of the staff. She has pitched 18.1 this season, but also like last year she has the lowest ERA and WHIP of those who pitch double-digit innings.

Of the three getting most of the innings, Brown is having by far the most success keeping runners from scoring. She has a 1.15 ERA. Both Osborne and Magee are surrendering more than three earned runs per game at 3.03 and 3.23, respectively.

Staff ERA: 2.15

Staff WHIP: 1.25

Staff hits given up: 98

Staff home runs surrendered: 6

Staff walks: 45

Staff strikeouts: 113

Staff batting average against: .226

Batting

On the Tuesday before the series, Lowe noted that one thing that hasn’t changed since Ford left ASU is the hitting. The Arizona head coach said that how Arizona responds to the Sun Devils’ runs will tell the story.

Arizona

As usual, Arizona has a lot of batters who sport high batting averages. Even those who have had their averages dip, like catcher Izzy Pacho, are hitting .300 or better.

The only Wildcats hitting below .300 are freshman Dakota Kennedy at .267 and transfer Ali Ashner at .200. Freshman Logan Cole has yet to get a hit in her 13 at-bats, so she sits at .000. Of the three, only Kennedy gets regular at-bats. Neither Ashner nor Cole reach the NCAA threshold of two at-bats per game and appearing in 75 percent of their team’s games.

What the Wildcats aren’t doing quite as much this season is hitting it out of the park. So far this season, they are hitting a little over 1.1 home runs per game. UA ended last season with just under 1.6 home runs per game. Only Netz (6), Carlie Scupin (7), and Allie Skaggs (4) have more than two home runs this season.

The team is running a bit more than usual, though—and they are having a good deal of success. They have 15 stolen base attempts so far this year with 14 successful steals. Last season, they had 23 stolen bases in 31 attempts all season.

Team BA: .363

Team OPS: 1.032

Team OB%: .453

Team Slg%: .579

Team HR: 24 total, 1.1 pg

Team RBI: 158 total, 7.5 pg

Team BB: 78 total, 3.7 pg

Team K: 97 total, 4.6 pg

Team runs: 173 total, 8.2 pg

Team SB-ATT: 14-15

ASU

Of the seven ASU batters who have at least two plate appearances per game and have appeared in 75 percent of the team’s games, only five are hitting over .300. On the entire roster, eight are hitting .300 or better.

When the Sun Devils get ahold of a pitch, they are hitting them a long way. ASU has 36 home runs already this with senior Jordyn VanHook leading the way with 13. She has almost doubled up on her nearest Pac-12 competitors, including teammate Yannira Acuña. Acuña is one of six Pac-12 batters, including Arizona’s Scupin, tied for second in the league with seven long balls.

From the early results, Arizona has found its way on base more often via the walk, but ASU has shown more power across the board. The power hasn’t necessarily translated into more runs, though. The Wildcats score over a run more than the Sun Devils per game.

Team BA: .353

Team OPS: 1.095

Team OB%: .425

Team Slg%: .670

Team HR: 36 total, 2 pg

Team RBI: 118 total, 6.6 pg

Team BB: 55 total, 3.1 pg

Team K: 77 total, 4.3 pg

Team runs: 126 total, 7 pg

Team SB-ATT: 13-16

Defense

With its inexperience in the circle, Arizona needs its defense to take pressure off the pitching staff. For the most part, it has. The same cannot be said of ASU.

Arizona

Arizona has a total of nine unearned runs all season with the six for Netz being the most of any pitcher. No other Wildcat pitcher has more than one unearned run on her tab.

Of Arizona’s 18 players, 13 have perfect fielding percentages. Arizona has three players with multiple errors so far this season.

Team fielding percentage: .978

Team errors: 11 total, 0.5 pg

Unearned runs: 9 total, 0.4 pg

ASU

The defense appears to be letting the ASU pitching down. Its top three pitchers have a combined 23 unearned runs scored against them. All three have at least seven unearned runs despite pitching about half as many innings as Netz.

For ASU, 18 players have had fielding opportunities this season. Only nine of them have perfect fielding percentages. Seven different Sun Devils have multiple errors despite playing three fewer games than the Wildcats.

Team fielding percentage: .959

Team errors: 20 total, 1.1 pg

Unearned runs: 24 total, 1.3 pg

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No. 17 Arizona Wildcats (15-6) @ No. 22 Arizona State Sun Devils (15-3)

When: Game 1 is on Friday, Mar. 10 at 7 p.m. MST. Game 2 on Saturday, Mar. 11 at 5 p.m. MST. Game 3 is on Sunday, Mar. 12 at 2 p.m. MST.

Where: Farrington Stadium in Tempe, Ariz.

TV: Games 1 and 2 will be aired on Pac-12 Arizona. Game 3 will air on Pac-12 Network and Pac-12 Arizona.

Streaming: Streaming is available via the Pac-12 Now app or online. Both options require a subscription via a TV provider. Streaming is also available with a subscription to a TV package that includes the Pac-12 Network via Sling, Fubo, or Vidgo.

Rankings: Arizona is ranked No. 17 in the NFCA/USA Today poll, No. 20 in the ESPN/USA Softball poll, No. 20 by D1 Softball, No. 19 by Softball America, and No. 43 in the RPI.

ASU is No. 22 in the NFCA/USA Today poll, tied for No. 24 in the ESPN/USA Softball poll, and No. 50 in the RPI. The Sun Devils are not ranked by Softball America or D1 Softball.

This site uses the NFCA/USA Today poll as the official poll.

How to follow along: Follow us on Twitter @AZDesertSwarm for all things Arizona Wildcats. For live tweets of softball and news throughout the week, follow our deputy editor @KimDoss71.