Beavers Ready for San Diego Classic I

TICKETS ON SALE NOW

• Tickets to select Oregon State softball games are now on sale at BeaverTickets.com/softball

• Tickets can be purchased for the Civil War series against Oregon (March 29-31) and for the two-game slate against Oklahoma (April 20-21)

• General admission for adults will be $9 per game, youth (ages 3-18)/senior (ages 62 ) tickets will be $7 per game, and groups of 12 or more will be $5 each

• Package deals will be available for all five games: adults - $35, youth/senior - $30

• Civil War series only: adult - $24, youth/senior - $18

• Oklahoma series only: adult - $16, youth/senior - $12

• Seating at the Oregon State Softball Complex is all general admission, overflow seating will be standing room only on the grass berm beyond the outfield wall, folding charis will be allowed on the grass berm

• Student tickets have to be picked up in person at the complex starting one hour prior to first pitch

• Sales, will call and student tickets will be located at the front gate , the back gate will be closed for public entrance

• Cash or check requred for tickets purchased at the venue, while one window will be open at the southeast ticket booth of Reser Stadium for credit card sales

• The remaining home series against Cal (March 16-18), Arizona State (April 6-8), Portland State (April 17) and Washington (May 4-6) will be free to the public

REWIND

• Oregon State went 3-2 on the trip to Palm Springs at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in southern California

• The Beavers copied the results of the first matchup with No. 16/18 Oklahoma State the second time the two met with a 4-2 win. Michelle Sass led with two RBI

• Oregon State finished day one unscathed cruising to an 11-2 win over Bethune-Cookman

• Mariah Mazon tossed her fourth complete game while fanning six

• OSU fell behind early to No. 11 Tennessee, and cut the dificit to one run, but fell 9-3

• McKenna Arriola sent her first homer of the season over the fence in the seventh inning

• The Beavers were knotted at four with No. 6/12 Auburn in the fourth, but dropped its second-straight of the weekend 10-7

• Meehra Nelson and Nerissa Eason split the game, tossing a combined eight strikeouts

• Oregon State ended the weekend on a high note with a shutout over LIU Brooklyn, 4-0

• Mazon spun her first career complete game shutout, striking out four in the outing

UPCOMING

• The Beavers head to San Diego, California, to compete in the San Diego Classis I and will face five opponents over three days of competition

• Oregon State will have Colorado State to lead off the classic and will follow up with games against Minnesota, Long Beach State, Boston University and San Diego

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Friday, March 2

Oregon State vs. Colorado State - 9 a.m.

USD Softball Complex, San Diego, Calif.

Oregon State vs. Minnesota - 2 p.m.

SDSU Softball Stadium, San Diego, Calif.

Saturday, March 3

Oregon State vs. Long Beach State - 4:30 p.m.

SDSU Softball Stadium, San Diego, Calif.

Sunday, March 4

Oregon State vs. Boston U. - 10 a.m.

USD Softball Complex, San Diego, Calif.

Oregon State vs. San Diego - 12:30 p.m.

USD Softball Complex, San Diego, Calif.

FOLLOW THE BEAVS

• Oregon State's contests at the San Diego Classic I will broadcast on Statbroadcast.com

• Links to live stats and video will be available on softball schedule page at OSUBeavers.com

EARLY IMPRESSIONS

• Upperclassmen lead the way as McKenna Arriola, Shelby Weeks and Jessica Garcia have started every game so far in 2018, with Meehra Nelson and Mariah Mazon anchoring the rotation

• Arriola has showcased her speed on the base paths with a Pac-12-leading 10 stolen bases through 16 games

• Weeks is the only Beaver to reach every base from the batters box, with one double, triple and home run each in 2018

• Garcia has started every game in center field and owns a team-leading .377 average with 20 hits

• Nelson owns 206 career strikeouts with 42 on the year so far

• Five true freshman have seen extended action on the field for Oregon State, four of whom have started every game

• Hope Brandner, Chance Burden, Missy Nunes and Camryn Ybarra have started every game, while Mariah Mazon was billed as the opening day starter in the circle

• Mazon and Nelson currently lead the rotation with nine appearances each so far in 2018. Mazon owns two saves and a 4-3 record behind a 3.02 ERA and 35 strikeouts in 44.0 innings pitched; Nelson leads with 42 strikeouds behind a 2.30 ERA in 42.2 innings pitched

• Nunes has started every game at third and brings the power with four homers, a .279 average and a .628 slugging percentage

• Brandner brings a big bat as well, with three homers and a .340 average along with 10 RBI

• Ybarra has started every game at second and is hitting .216 with five walks and three runs scored

• Kayleen Shafer has started 15 games behind the plate and has already thrown out six runners attempting to steal

• Shafer threw out eight base runners as a sophomore in 2017 and gunned down nine as a freshman in 2016

• Oregon State won their eighth straight opening day game with an 8-2 decision over No. 21/24 Oklahoma State

• OSU has won every opening day game with Laura Berg at the helm

2018 OUTLOOK

• Along with Everett, Arriola, Weeks, Garcia and Lopez, the Beavers return 14 total letterwinners and seven starters from 2017

• Kayleen Shafer returns to her spot behind the plate as she caught every game in 2017 and ended with a .984 fielding pct.

• Stephanie Merwin and Alyssa Pelegrin saw extended action in 2017 as Merwin started 34 games at second base while Pelegrin started 19 at third base

• Meehra Nelson, Nerissa Eason and Shawna Burke return to the rotation as each saw action in 2017

• Eason made 33 appearances with 19 starts, compiling a 3.87 ERA in 121.1 innings pitched and a 9-13 record

• Eason added 76 strikeouts while limiting opponents to a .267 batting avg.

• Nelson saw action in 23 games with seven starts, compiling a 4.04 ERA in 60.2 innings pitched with a 5-3 record

• Nelson added 53 strikes to only 30 walks in her time in the circle

• Burke made four appearances for 6.1 innings pitched with three strikeouts

• Oregon State will have plenty of depth on the bench as Katy McJunkin, Michelle Sass and Fallon Molnar all return with playing time in 2017

• Nine newcomers will grace the roster as Mayu Molina, Hope Brandner, Sara Lillie, Chance Burden, Paityn Willoughby, Jessie Wilson, Missy Nunes, Camryn Ybarra and Mariah Mazon join the 2018 squad

2018 SCHEDULE NOTES

• The non-conference portion of Oregon State's 2018 schedule features a gauntlet of games over the course of five tournaments and four non-conference games

• OSU opens the year with the Kajikawa Classic where four opponents made an appearance in the 2017 NCAA Regionals: Oklahoma State, BYU, Georgia and Missouri

• The Purple and Gold Challenge in Baton Rouge, La., features 2017 WCWS participant LSU along with 2017 NCAA Regional foe Louisiana Tech

• The Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic has 2017 NCAA Super Regional foes Tennessee and Auburn along with Oklahoma State again

• The San Diego Classic features 2017 NCAA Regional participant Minnesota, while OSU wraps up the non-conference schedule against 2017 defending national champion Oklahoma

• The conference portion features seven opponents that made varying finishes in the 2017 NCAA Tournament

• Cal and Arizona State both made the regionals

• Arizona and Utah both ended 2017 in the super regionals

• Oregon, UCLA and Washington all made the WCWS

• In total, Oregon State will face 17 opponents from the 2017 NCAA Tournament

• 22 opponents had a top-100 RPI in 2017, 16 opponents had a top-50 RPI, 13 had a top-25 RPI, and six had a top-10 RPI

• 17 opponents were ranked at some point in either the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll or the USA Today/NFCA Coaches poll in 2017

NCAA TOURNAMENT

• The 2017 season marked the third time the Beavers reached the NCAA Tournament under the direction of head coach Laura Berg, as well as the 12th time in program history

• The Beavers are 28-24 all time in their 12 tournament appearances following the losses to JMU and Kent State

• The last time OSU won a regional was in 2006 when it played Nevada and No. 19 Baylor twice. Oregon State went on to play in the Women's College World Series that year

• Oregon State also reached the NCAAs in 2016 and in 2013 — Berg's first year as head coach

• Coach Berg holds a 1-5 record as the leader in the postseason with her lone win in 2013 against Stony Brook at the Columbia, Mo., Regional.

• The Beavers also reached the tournament in Berg's first year as an assistant coach in 2012. Before 2012, OSU had not reached the tournament since 2007

• Berg and former head coach Kirk Walker (1995-2012) are the only head coaches in program history to reach the NCAA Tournament

BEAVERS WITHOUT BORDERS

• Beavers without Borders is a program that offers global service-learning experiences for student-athletes

• The program has completed six service projects in Guatemala, Macedonia, Ethiopia and the Dominican Republic

• McKenna Arriola wentto Costa Rica in June for seven days. This is the first time OSU will have a project in Costa Rica

• Kayleen Shafer and Michelle Sass visited the Dominican Republic in August for 10 days - will be OSU's fifth year there

COACHING PROFILES

• Head coach Laura Berg hung up her cleats after nearly 20-years of playing softball and spent a year with the LAPD in 2010-11 before returning to the game as an assistant coach for the 2012 season at Oregon State

• Associate head coach Marcie Green also has experience with law enforcement. Green studied criminology at Fresno State and spent five years as a prison guard at Corcoran State Prison in California following graduation before starting coaching

• Assistant coach Adam DeRusha joins the 2018 squad after spending the past two years as a graduate assistant at LSU and spending two years at Florida when the Gators were crowned national champions in 2014 and 2015

• Volunteer assistant coach Mikiah Smith is back for his 11th season, while Director of Operations Heather Smith is back for her 17th season

BERG NAMED HEAD COACH OF JWNT

• Head coach Laura Berg will continue her legacy with the USA National Softball team, but this time with the junior team

• Head coach Berg led the 2017 Junior Women's National Team and led the 17-player roster this past summer

• Berg has prior experience with the juniors, being an assistant coach in 2012. Since then, she has helped train the national team

FOLLOW BERG

• Head coach Laura Berg is in her sixth season.

• Has guided OSU to three NCAA Tournament appearances.

• Holds a 143-132-1 overall record and 37-80 in Pac-12 games.

SOCIAL MEDIA

• Follow the Oregon State softball team on Twitter and Instagram at @BeaverSoftball and Facebook at /BeaverSoftball.

WORKING UP THE RECORD BOOK

• A number of Beavers have made their way into the Oregon State record books in various categories.

• Meehra Nelson had a record breaking freshman year, as she set the single-season saves record with seven and ranks seventh all-time in saves through three seasons

• McKenna Arriola is working up the ranks as she is fifth all-time in runs scored with 127

• Both Arriola and Shelby Weeks rank in the top 10 list for career batting average at OSU with at least two seasons played

• Weeks sits fourth with a.346 career batting average, while Arriola is hitting .329 through four seasons in the Orange and Black, good for seventh all-time

ALL-CONFERENCE AWARDS

• Oregon State had four players tabbed with All-Conference honors in 2017

• Alysha Everett highlighted the quartet with Pac-12 second team honors

• McKenna Arriola, Taylor Cotton and Natalie Hampton all were named to the Pac-12 third team

• See page three for the full honor roll list

KNOWS WHAT IT TAKES

• Oregon State's coaching staff is no stranger when it comes to the NCAA Tournament and the Women's College World Series

• Both head coach Laura Berg and associate head coach Marcie Green played at Fresno State in the '90s and gained plenty of experience in the path to the WCWS

• Coach Berg played from 1994-95 and 1997-98 making it to the WCWS three times and won the national championship in '98

• Coach Green played from 1990-93 and appeared in three WCWS, including a runner-up finish in 1990

• Assistant coach Adam DeRusha made the WCWS as a grad assistant at LSU in 2016 and 2017, and was part of the coaching staff in 2014 and 2015 for Florida when the Gators won the national championship in back-to-back years

HOW MANY MEDALS?

• Head coach Laura Berg was a four-time All-American at Fresno State and led the Bulldogs to their first title in 1998

• Softball was an Olympic sport form 1996-2008 in which Berg represented the US National Team in all four appearances, helping claim three gold medals for her nation. (1996- Atlanta, 2000- Sydney, 2004- Athens) and one silver (2008-Beijing)

• She is the only athlete in USA Softball history to compete in four different Olympics

• Berg is the most decorated USA Softball Olympic athlete in history, accumulating 11 total medals (10 gold), while competing in the US Olympic Games, the International Softball Federation Women's World Championship and the Pan American Games

• Head coach Berg's No. 44 jersey was retired at Fresno State on February 28, 2016

Next Event

Players Mentioned

McKenna Arriola

Hope Brandner

Chance Burden

Shawna Burke

Taylor Cotton

Nerissa Eason

Alysha Everett

Jessica Garcia

Natalie Hampton

Sara Lillie

Mariah Mazon

Katy McJunkin

Stephanie Merwin

Mayu Molina

Fallon Molnar

Meehra Nelson

Missy Nunes

Alyssa Pelegrin

Michelle Sass

Kayleen Shafer

Shelby Weeks

Paityn Willoughby

Jessie Wilson

Camryn Ybarra