TEMPE, Ariz. – Dallas Escobedo leads the Pac-12 in strikeouts by a wide margin with 310. Opponents are hitting just .183 off of her, the second-best mark in the conference.
She’s second in the conference in wins (28), second in innings pitched (230) and sixth in earned run average at 2.10, and she was named to the All-Pac-12 first team earlier this month.
So how does Arizona State’s junior pitcher view her season?
“People always talk about a sophomore slump. I think it was a junior slump for me,” Escobedo said Tuesday. “I don’t think I really figured out the mentality I need to have every single game until the (regular-season-ending) Oregon series.”
Such are the fine distinctions for the elite of the elite.
“She was definitely struggling a little but during (conference) play,” catcher Amber Freeman said. “She didn’t fully believe in herself and her pitches, especially her rise ball, which is her bread and butter.”
And now?
“I definitely feel like I’m in a groove,” Escobedo said. “I finally figured it out.”
Escobedo sure was in a comfort zone in the fourth-ranked Sun Devils' three-game regional sweep of San Jose State and Georgia last weekend. She allowed no earned runs and six hits in the three games while striking out 15. Overall, she has worked 31 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run.
ASU (48-10) will host No. 19 Kentucky in the NCAA Super Regionals on Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. at Farrington Stadium. If necessary, a third game will be played at 5 p.m. on Sunday. A win this weekend means another trip to the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City from May 30-June 5.
“That’s always our expectation,” Escobedo said.
Lofty expectations are nothing new for the former Phoenix St. Mary’s star. She won a state championship in 2010, topped 500 strikeouts in two separate seasons and left the central Phoenix school as arguably the most famous prep softball player the state has ever produced.
But when she arrived at ASU, she was overly reliant on her trademark rise ball.
“She was a novelty as a freshman,” said coach Clint Myers, who won a national championship in part due to that novelty. “She was effectively wild. She just ran it up there and had about 1.5 pitches, but she had success because she he had faith in her teammates, she listened to what they said and she competed hard.
“Now, she has four legitimate pitches, she can control those pitches and she understands how to pitch.”
She also has the confidence to use them.
“The greatest pitch in the world carries no guarantees that it will not be hit,” Myers said. “Once she understood that and stopped worrying about it, I think she hit another level.”
Myers credits pitching coach Chuck D’Arcy with that tutelage, but D’Arcy, in turn, credits Escobedo with being a receptive and capable pupil.
“It’s important that she doesn’t do it because she’s told,” D’Arcy said. “That’s the wrong reason to do something. She needs to understand the concept and why it’s done, and then she can apply it on her own.
“Once she realized that moving the ball up and down is a lot more advantageous for the pitcher than staying on the same plane, she turned a corner."
Escobedo’s arsenal now includes a drop ball that she's mastered this season. But it’s her change-up that has Myers raving.
“It has just been phenomenal, and it’s surprising everybody,” he said.
One thing that hasn’t changed about Escobedo is her mound presence. Despite an off-field demeanor that teammates describe as goofy and silly, Escobedo stares down hitters with a “you’re not hitting my ball” attitude that has its desired effect.
“Is she intimidating? Um, yeah!” said Freeman, who played at Mater Dei High in Santa Ana, Calif., but faced Escobedo in various tournaments. “Dallas is not a small girl. She’s maybe 6-1 and she has that presence on the mound that makes you think twice about stepping in there. Hitting off her is a little scary. She’s not afraid to hit you if she has to, and she’s very confident. You can feel that as a hitter.”
There was a time when Escobedo wasn’t as comfortable being the focus at ASU. As a freshman, she was surrounded by seniors and just tried to absorb the experience. Even now, she gets caught off-guard in the grocery store when someone recognizes her.
“I’ll be in my glasses with my hair crazy, not caring and people are like, ‘You’re Dallas,’” she said. “That’s when I start thinking, ‘Oh, shoot, I should have just taken a little more time to do my hair.’”
Even so, Escobedo is comfortable in her skin and comfortable in the knowledge that the road to Oklahoma City goes through her.
“I don’t think she would consider it pressure at all,” Freeman said. “Honestly, I think she loves being in the spotlight. I think she feeds off of it.”
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