Huskers Set for Five Games at ASU Invitational

The Nebraska softball team (8-10) will travel to Tempe, Ariz., this weekend for its last major non-conference road trip. The Huskers will play five games as part of the ASU invitational from March 6-8. NU begins the trip against Oregon State Friday at 10 a.m. CT followed by a game against Wright State at 12:30 p.m. CT. On Saturday, the Huskers will play Lehigh (3 p.m. CT) and host-school Arizona State (5:30 p.m. CT). Nebraska will conclude the tournament on Sunday with a game against New Mexico State. First pitch against the Aggies is set for 11 a.m. CT.

Scouting the Opponents
Oregon State has a record of 14-7 but will play Wright State on Thursday before playing the Huskers on Friday. Last weekend, the Beavers went 4-2 in Honolulu, Hawaii, beating Hawaii (twice), Seattle and Nevada and losing to Nevada and Seattle. As a team, OSU is hitting .252 but has three hitters that are batting at least .300. Mariah Mazon has a team-high .377 average, while Missy Nunes and Xiao Gin are hitting .348 and .328, respectively. Mazon, Nunes and Gin have started all 21 games for Oregon State so far this season. However for OSU, the story is in the circle. The Oregon State pitching staff has been impressive in 2020 with a team ERA of just 1.30. The Beavers have given up just 27 earned runs and are averaging under 2.0 runs a game. Additionally, OSU is averaging more than eight strikeouts a game. Mazon leads the way in the circle as well with a team-high 16 appearances and 13 starts. She's pitched a total of 93.1 innings and has 108 strikeouts. Mazon has a record of 8-5 and a 0.90 ERA.

Wright State has a record of 5-8 but will have the opportunity to pick up two more wins before seeing the Huskers. The Raiders face Oregon State and Arizona State on Thursday. Most recently, Wright State went 2-2 at the Blue Hose Invitational in Clinton, S.C. The Raiders split a pair of games with both Wagner and Presbyterian. Emily Daniel leads WSU at the plate with a .515 batting average. Daniel has started all 13 games and has a team-best 12 runs, 17 hits and three doubles. Daniel is also adding six RBIs and has a slugging percentage of .606. Brianna Hutchinson is hitting .471 through 12 starts with 10 RBIs and a slugging percentage of .735. Payton Baxter leads the team with five home runs, 17 RBIs and a .750 slugging percentage. In the circle, the Raiders have a team ERA of 6.71. Olivia Otani has a team-high 10 appearances and 35.0 innings pitched. She has a record of 3-4 and an ERA of 6.20. She is also adding a team-best 17 strikeouts. Carly Turner has also seen significant action for WSU. Turner has appeared nine times with a team-high five starts. Turner has an ERA of 6.34 and a 2-2 record. She has pitched 32.0 innings and has 13 strikeouts.

Lehigh is 6-4 heading into the Arizona State Invitational. Last weekend, the Mountain Hawks went 3-2 at the NC State Invitational in Raleigh, N.C. Lehigh lost to host school NC State and beat North Carolina twice. The team then split two games with No. 24/25 James Madison. Lehigh is hitting .289 as a team. Emily Cimino has a team-best .469 through 10 starts. She also leads the starters on the team with a .969 slugging percentage as she has two doubles, one triple and four home runs on the season so far. Cimino also has a team-high nine runs and 11 RBIs. Carley Barjaktarovich is hitting .345 with nine runs and three RBIs. In the circle, the Mountain Hawks have a team ERA of 4.07. Parker Boyd has carried most of the weight so far this season. Boyd has made six appearances which include five starts and three complete games. She has pitched more than half (33.1) of the team's 63.2 total innings. She has the team's only shutout of the season and is holding opposing batters to a .232 batting average. Boyd also has a team-best 29 strikeouts.

Arizona State is ranked 15th in the ESPN/USA Softball Poll and holds a No. 17 ranking in the NFCA/USA Today Poll. The Sun Devils have a record of 16-6 but will play Wright State on Thursday and New Mexico State on Friday before facing Nebraska on Saturday. ASU is coming of a 4-1 weekend at the Sun Devil Classic. Wisconsin handed Arizona State its lone loss of the weekend in a 10-1 decision. The Badgers avenged a 3-1 loss earlier that weekend. The Sun Devils also beat Maryland twice and Southern Utah. 2019 NFCA Third-Team All-American Kindra Hackbarth leads the Sun Devil offense with a .424 batting average through 22 starts. Hackbarth has a team-best 26 runs, nine doubles and a .773 slugging percentage. Hackbarth is also adding four homers, 22 RBIs and 11 walks for Arizona State. Jazmine Hill (.369), Alynah Torres (.368), Makenna Harper (.324), Maddi Hackbarth (.323) and Bella Loomis (.319) are also major contributors for Arizona State's offense. In the circle, Cielo Meza (8-2) is seeing the most action with 15 appearances which includes 11 starts and three complete games. She's pitched 62.1 innings and has 81 strikeouts with a 2.02 ERA.

New Mexico State is 11-6 but will play Wright State, Arizona State and Oregon State before facing Nebraska on Sunday. The Aggies are hitting .342 as a team and are led by the 2019 WAC Player of the Year Nikki Butler. Butler has started all 17 games and leads the starters with a .479 batting average. She leads the team with 15 runs, 23 hits, four doubles, seven home runs and 20 RBIs. She is also slugging 1.000 with an on-base percentage of .574. Ramsay Lopez is also off to a hot start. She's played in all 17 games and has made 15 starts. Lopez is hitting .436 and slugging 1.026. She has 14 runs, two doubles, seven homers and 17 RBIs. Chloe Rivas is adding a .448 average through 15 appearances and nine starts. In the circle, Matalasi Faapito has pitched 48.0 of the team's 104.2 innings. She has a record of 2-2 and a team-low ERA of 4.23. She has made a team-high 10 appearances and seven starts and leads the team with 26 strikeouts.

Follow the Huskers
A live radio broadcast will be available on Huskers.com and the official Huskers App for all of Nebraska's games this season. Fans can also follow the action on Twitter (@HuskerSoftball). Additionally, Nebraska's game against ASU will be streamed on Pac-12.com.