(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)
As spring slowly approaches and the cold winds of winter dissipate, the crack of bats and pops of gloves will once again be heard at Farrington Stadium in Tempe.
Arizona State softball will return to its beloved “Club Farrington” to kick off the 2020 season this Friday in a doubleheader against Portland State and Kansas as a part of the annual Kajikawa Classic.
Last year’s team boasted a 35-20 regular-season record, good enough for fourth in the Pac-12. The Sun Devils saw their 2019 campaign end with a 9-8 loss to Alabama in the Tuscaloosa Regional Final.
Now set to go for 2020, the Sun Devils return to action with an influx of new additions and changes at the arrival of a new decade.
Gortarez Out; Torres In
Just a week before opening day, ASU head coach Trisha Ford said ASU’s Third-Team All-Pac-12 shortstop Jade Gortarez, who was set to lead the Sun Devil infield this season, was no longer a part of the program.
Gortarez, a two-year starter, was ranked as the No. 66 overall player in Softball America’s Top 100 Players for the upcoming season and was a key part of last year’s success on both sides of the ball. Her absence in 2020 could be significant.
Ford announced at her team’s media day that freshman infielder Alynah Torres would be Gortarez’s replacement. Ford also shared that starting second basemen Bella Loomis, along with utility infielder transfers Mailey McLemore and Halle Harger may see playing time at the position.
Loomis, who started at second last year for ASU, was ranked No. 70 in Softball America’s Top 100 players, just four spots below her former middle infield partner.
“It’s hard for me to move Bella from second base,” Ford said. “She is fully capable of playing shortstop, but Alynah came to us as a shortstop. That’s her natural position. The transition plan was for Alynah to play shortstop. When we made a change, that was a good fit. It’s been neat to see Alynah own it, like that’s my spot, let’s get after it.”
Torres hit .653 at the plate in high school and slugged 64 home runs and 249 RBIs. She was the runner up for the Gatorade Player of the Year Award in the state of Arizona.
Projected Starters
ASU’s projected defensive alignment for 2020 starts with a completely homegrown infield. From the corners to the middle, all four of ASU’s infielders hail from the greater Phoenix area.
Torres — a Glendale Cactus High School graduate — replaces Gortatez at shortstop. Loomis hails from Chandler’s Hamilton High School. Junior Kiara Kennedy, who attended Desert Vista High School in Phoenix, will return to the hot corner. Kennedy received significant playing time last year after senior Taylor Becerra injured her knee. Finally, Goodyear Millennium High School alum Denae Chatman returns to her corner of the infield at first base after playing there all of last season.
For the outfield, long gone is the presence of All-American center fielder Morgan Howe and Second-Team All-Pac-12 left fielder Skylar McCarty, who both left the program after graduating. The lone member of last year’s outfield, All-American right fielder Kindra Hackbarth, will shift to center for her senior year.
All-Pac-12 Freshman Team outfielder Yannira Acuña will take control of left field, while freshman Jazmine Hill, ASU’s top signee of the 2019 recruiting class, will fill in at Hackbarth’s former position in right field.
Ford also stated on Wednesday that freshman Jordyn VanHook and sophomore Makenna Harper are expecting to mix in for playing time as well.
Behind the plate once again for ASU is two-year starter and Second Team All-Pac-12 catcher, Maddi Hackbarth.
According to Ford, the senior catcher is in the best shape of her life, mentally, physically and emotionally.
Hackbarth finished last season with 19 home runs, just one blast short of tying ASU’s single-season home run record. Kindra, her sister, wasn’t far behind with 17. On Wednesday at media day, Hackbarth announced that her primary individual goal for 2020 was to break that same single-season home run record that eluded her in 2019.
Senior utility Alli Tatnall, who has done anything and everything for ASU, will return for her final year as a Sun Devil and will start at designated player. Ford spoke very highly of Tatnall on Wednesday.
“I don’t know if I could be any happier or proud of her,” Ford said. “She’s done a tremendous job and has fully accepted her role. She’s thriving…It’s really cool to see that transformation over these four years.”
ASU’s defense may have some fresh faces in new positions, but Ford, in her fourth year at the helm of the Sun Devils, remained optimistic when asked about the current status of the team and what’s to come in the future.
“The next couple of years this program is going to be crazy good,” Ford said. “I’m excited to see what this season does then continue that forward.”
Pitching Staff
The 2019 Arizona State Sun Devils boasted one of the most prolific offenses in college softball, ranking second in scoring (7.47 runs per game) and slugging percentage (.606) at the end of the regular season. However, the same could not be said for ASU’s pitching.
The staff of four righties in 2019 combined for a cumulative 4.64 earned run average and .290 opposing batting average, placing them seventh and eighth of the nine teams in the Pac-12, respectively.
Seniors Samantha Mejia and Cielo Meza who transferred to ASU last season from Fresno State and Long Beach State, respectively, are both returning to the pitching staff, along with sophomore Abby Andersen, who will miss the beginning of the season due to medical reasons.
New additions to the staff include Alabama transfer Madison Preston and freshmen Morgan Leinstock and Lindsay Lopez.
“We have a lot of different things going on in our pitching staff,” Mejia said. “We have drop ball pitchers, we have lefties, we have righties. It’s exciting to know we can go in as a staff rather than just depending on one person.”
While ASU’s 2020 staff is more diverse than it was before, all roles are up for grabs. Opportunities like this weekend’s Kajikawa Classic are the proving ground for the Sun Devil pitchers, and anyone could hear their name called in a diverse number of situations.
“We’re going to pitch by committee,” Ford said. “We have a lot of good match-ups we’re going to be able to use. You might be a starter on Friday, you might be a middle reliever on Saturday and you might be a closer on Sunday. (The team) just wants to get a win.”
ASU’s slate for Kajikawa
Arizona State will play its first game of the Kajikawa Classic against Portland State at 3:30 p.m on Friday, before playing Kansas at 6 p.m.
On Saturday, ASU will face Western Michigan at 4:30 p.m., then No. 14 Northwestern at 7:00 p.m.
On Sunday afternoon, ASU will play Seattle at 2 p.m. and will wrap up the weekend’s games facing No. 12 Tennessee on Monday at 7:00 p.m.
