SEATTLE - The #1 Washington Huskies will host the #9 Arizona Wildcats at Husky Softball Stadium this week, the first home series of Pac-12 play for the Huskies. Game one of the series will be Friday, March 23 at 5:00 pm, with game two Saturday at 3:30 pm and game three Sunday at 1:00 pm. Tickets for all home games are available
online.
Washington began Pac-12 play last weekend, going 1-2 against the #10 Arizona State Sun Devils in Tempe, Arizona. The Huskies shutout Arizona State 7-0 in their lone win, with
Taran Alvelo recording her fifth career shutout of a top-ten opponent while striking out 11. The losses were Washington's first of the season, as the Huskies remain number one in the country and are 29-2 on the season.
Kelly Burdick saw her career-best nine-game hitting streak come to a close this weekend. Burdick hit .609 during the streak, recording four multi-hit games in that time. It was the fourth hit streak of nine or more games by a Husky this season, led by
Sis Bates' 15-game streak to start the season. Washington had only two hit streaks of at least nine games last season, with
Taylor Van Zee the only player to record a hit streak of 10+ games with a 13-game streak. This year, Van Zee has already had a 14-game hitting streak.
Alvelo pushed her undefeated streak to 16 games before falling to Arizona State on Monday. That tied Alvelo's longest undefeated streak of her career, matching a 16-game streak from April 14-May 26 of 2017. Alvelo is 13-1 on the year, ranking seventh in the nation in strikeouts (136) and 19th in ERA (0.85). Alvelo is one of two Huskies in the nation's top 20 in ERA along with
Gabbie Plain, who is eighth at 0.62. Only two other teams have multiple players in the top 20 of ERA.
The Huskies have won three of their last four home series against Arizona, including a series sweep in 2010. This year, Arizona has started 24-3 with three wins over ranked opponents. The Wildcats started Pac-12 play with a home sweep of Utah and have won ten of their last 11 games entering this series.
Make sure to follow Husky softball on Twitter with the username @UWSoftball and on Instagram at uwsoftball.
