ASU Softball: Sun Devils face Arizona in top-20 showdown

No.17 ASU softball will head to Tucson for its Pac-12 road series against No.11 Arizona in a top-20 clash of two hot offenses.

The Sun Devils head into the series with a five-game winning streak, and a huge part of that streak is their offensive output.

The Wildcats have also had success as of late with a 6-0 record in Pac-12 play. They have won 20 of their last 23 games with their only losses coming to No. 2 Oklahoma and No. 3 Florida State by a combined four runs.

Heading into the series, Arizona State leads the nation with an average of 9.12 runs scored per game.

That offense will be put to the test with solid pitching from Arizona, which has posted a 0.76 ERA in conference play. Junior pitcher Alyssa Denham has not allowed an earned run in 9.2 innings of Pac-12 play and threw a no-hitter against Oregon State.

One thing is true for both teams: They both love to hit home runs.

The Sun Devils hit an average of 1.94 home runs per game. They hit 12 home runs last weekend versus Utah.

The Wildcats are not far behind with a average of 1.84 home runs per game. They have three players with double-digit home runs.

Junior Jesse Harper has 17 home runs, which leads the Pac-12 and is second nationally. Junior Dejah Mulipola has 13 home runs on the year, which is third in Pac-12. Redshirt Junior Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza finishes the list off with 10 homers.

The Sun Devils will have to rely on their offensive power with statistics like slugging percentage (.696) and on base percentage (.461). They have a margin of 80 runs scored over other Pac-12 teams.

ASU will look to avenge what happened in the last series, when they won the first game, 2-1, but dropped the other two, giving Arizona the series win.

The top-20 showdown begins tonight at 5 p.m. The other two games are Saturday at 5 p.m. and Sunday at 4 p.m.