Ben Margiott

azcentral sports;

Dani Gilmore leads the Beavers offensively, hitting .400 through nonconference play.

OSU will honor head coach and Olympian Laura Berg before Saturday's game.

ASU has played 24 of its 29 games at home in 2014.

The No. 7 Arizona State softball team has played 24 games in Tempe this season. This weekend, the Sun Devils (26-3) begin their Pac-12 slate against an Oregon State team that will be playing in its first home games of 2014.

ASU coach Craig Nicholson said Oregon State will be playing with extra intensity for its first games in front of a home crowd.

“A team finally gets an opportunity to play at home … I definitely think we’ll go in there and get their best effort,” Nicholson said. “We got to make sure that we can match that intensity level and that sort of effort level.”

The Beavers (9-13) appear to have put a disastrous seven-game losing streak behind them, having gone 3-2 in March. With that in mind, Nicholson said he won’t be taking the Beavers lightly.

“I just think they are a scrappy ballclub,” Nicholson said. “We got to make sure that we can win, we don’t worry about what their record is, we don’t underestimate anybody.”

But ASU is not to be outdone. Since going 3-3 at the Louisville Slugger Invitational from Feb. 27 to March 3, ASU has won seven in a row, including wins over then-No. 5 Michigan and then-No. 16 Nebraska.

Senior right-hander Dallas Escobedo has been the driving force for the Sun Devils after a 4-0, 0.26 ERA weekend at the Judi Garman Classic, where she threw her fourth-career no-hitter. Escobedo cleaned up the national softball awards for the week, taking both Player and Pitcher of the Week.

Junior Dani Gilmore, who has hit from the leadoff spot in years prior, has been hitting in the No. 3 spot for OSU. She spearheads the offensive charge for the Beavers, hitting .400 with five home runs and 16 RBIs in just 65 at-bats.

WEEKEND SERIESNO. 7 ASU AT OREGON STATEWhen: 1 p.m. today and Saturday, noon SundayWhere: OSU Softball Complex, Corvallis, Ore.