Oregon State softball coach Kirk Walker sports a beard as the season gets ready to open this week. The Beavers will head to the Valley of the Sun to compete in the Kajikawa Classic.

The toughest opponents for OSU appear to be Georgia Tech on Friday and Nebraska on Saturday. Both of those programs are ranked nationally. The opener on Thursday against Brigham Young should also be a challenge.

The Pac-12 looks tough as usual with No. 1 Arizona State leading the way. Seven teams are nationally ranked with OSU and Utah the only programs not receiving any love in those preseason polls.

Walker believes the Beavers could be postseason material.

“I think this team definitely has talent, but more importantly has the focus, desire and work ethic to be a postseason team,” he said. “Having the fortune to coach postseason teams in the past, there is something different about those teams. I certainly feel that’s what’s coming out in this group right now.”

Walker doesn’t see much changing as far as the Pac-12 goes. The Utes are a new addition but it should be business as usual with ranked programs battling it out.

“Right now Arizona State is at the top of the heap in the country and they return a freshman pitcher from last year that took them all the way to the national championship,” Walker said. “I think who’s on top might be a little different at any given time, but you have nothing but exceptional talent and exceptional coaches and competitive teams right on through the conference.”

Walker is confident that his team has the potential to break into the rankings.

“There’s a lot ahead of us. There are 56 games and a lot of hard travel so time will tell,” he said. “I’m certainly very optimistic and realistic to think that this team could put us back where we want to be, which is a team that is ranked in the top 20 and a team that is vying for that national championship by making the postseason.”