The No. 8 Stanford softball team travels to Arizona this weekend looking to wrap up its stellar regular season and secure a third-place finish in the conference. The Cardinal will play Arizona State tonight before facing off against the University of Arizona on Friday and Saturday.

Enlarge
#gallery http://daily.stanford.org/image/full/9142
Masaru Oka

Junior pitcher Missy Penna will lead the No. 8 softball team into Arizona this weekend. The Cardinal have three huge games against the Arizona schools to close out their regular season schedule.

The pair of games against No. 9 Arizona (33-16, 10-8 Pac-10 Conference) is particularly important for the Cardinal and could not have been scripted better for a season finale. After a sweep in Oregon last weekend, Stanford (45-10, 10-8 Pac-10) is tied with the Wildcats in third place in the conference.

Either Stanford or Arizona can assure itself of a third-place finish, behind No. 2 Arizona State and UCLA, by sweeping both games.

First up, however, is the Sun Devils, the Pac-10’s top team and a national power. The Sun Devils (54-4, 16-2 Pac-10) have the top offense in the league by a wide margin. Arizona State hits .335 as a team, 19 points better than second-place Arizona, and ASU’s whopping 414 runs is over 100 better than the next closest team.

Outfielders Kaitlin Cochran and Jackie Vasquez are the only two hitters in the conference with batting averages over .400, with Cochran hitting .443 and Vasquez just behind at .418. Cochran, who has 11 homeruns, is a threat with power and average, and she has also drawn 52 walks in 201 plate appearances, giving her a massive .606 on-base percentage.

Arizona State’s pitching, though not at the same level as Stanford’s 1.15 team ERA, is one of the better staffs in the Pac-10, too. Their ace Katie Burkhart leads the Pac-10 in strikeouts with 394 (11.9 per game) and has 15 shutouts and a 0.87 ERA, the third-best in the league. Stanford will bring its own star pitcher, junior Missy Penna, to the desert for what is sure to be a low scoring game. Penna and Burkhart are neck and neck in all of the conference pitching stats. The Cardinal right-hander is second to Burkhart in strikeouts (353) and shutouts (12) but tops her in wins and complete games.

The Cardinal also has a few offensive weapons of its own, including sophomore catcher Rosey Neill, who leads the Pac-10 in homeruns with 17. Neill is also right behind two ASU players in the RBI standings, with 48.

Stanford and Arizona State will begin play at 7 p.m. in Tempe, Ariz. tonight.