(Photo: Marlee Smith/WCSN)
If there is a theme for the 2021 Arizona State softball season, it will be taking care of unfinished business. Fifth-year head coach Trisha Ford is returning nearly the entire roster from a promising 2020 campaign that was cut short when COVID-19 halted the spring sport season last March. With a 22-7 record at the time, the Sun Devils had their sights set on a deep postseason run. Now, those aspirations have shifted to 2021.
“They’re on a mission,” Ford said. Especially the older players, I had a feeling they would want to come back and play a full season.”
The team’s lofty expectations aren’t just internal. In its annual preseason rankings, D1softball.com has ASU at 17th. While the consensus top 20 ranking is impressive, the perennial powerhouse PAC-12 features four teams ranked ahead of the Sun Devils. UCLA, Washington, Arizona and Oregon come in at #1, #3, #4 and #12, respectively. The conference schedule will be its usual gauntlet in 2021, here’s how ASU stacks up.
During Ford’s tenure in Tempe, her teams have been defined by offense. This year, with a nearly identical lineup, will be no different. Highlighted by fifth-year seniors Kindra and Maddi Hackbarth, super sophomores Alynah Torres and Jazmine Hill and the always reliable senior Bella Loomis, the ASU bats are formidable from top to bottom. Seniors Kiara Kennedy and Alli Tatnall also return to anchor the powerful lineup. In 2020, the Sun Devils belted a national-best 50 home runs in their 29 games on their way to slugging an impressive .647. If this record setting pace was able to see a full season, we may be previewing the 2021 defending PAC-12 Champions’ season.
“Having the season get canceled last year kind of made (Maddi) and I realize the work we put in last year can be put towards this year,” Kindra Hackbarth said. “During this offseason we were totally focused on softball. Nutrition, workouts, anything that can improve our bodies physically and mentally.”
Ford spoke on the senior leadership her team features in 2021, specifically those who have returned for an extra year.
“Our returners have shown tremendous leadership so far,” she said. “Kindra and Maddi come to mind immediately. Kindra loves talking to the younger players about hitting, and just last night Maddi was here longer than I was hitting ground balls to Alynah.”
While experience will certainly be a strength for ASU this season, their few underclassmen will have to play a huge role if the team hopes to be playing deep into the postseason. Torres and Hill were stellar in their abbreviated freshmen campaigns, and won’t be sneaking up on any opposing pitchers this year. Torres, who hit .395 with 9 home runs in 2020, fit in seamlessly at shortstop. Hill, ranked 16th nationally among sophomores, will likely bat near the top of the lineup and patrol outfield for the first time as a true starter this season.
“Those two girls are so talented and they just work so hard,” Ford said of Torres and Hill. “I’ve had to have talks with them, they’re very hard on themselves sometimes. They still don’t know what a full college season feels like.”
In the circle, the Sun Devils enjoyed their best statistical pitching season in years in 2020, boasting a 2.24 team ERA, second in the conference behind only Arizona. The staff was led almost entirely by Cielo Meza, Madison Preston and Samantha Mejia. Meza and Preston will take the lion’s share of innings this year, with sophomore Lindsay Lopez poised to assume the role of the departed Mejia.
“Lindsay, knocking on wood, has shown tremendous uptick this fall,” Ford said. “She’s gained about 3-4 mph and our hitters are having a hard time barreling her up lately. I’ve challenged her, we had to have some uncomfortable conversations at the end of last season, and she has responded.”
The staff is rounded out by Allison Royalty – a potential high-impact freshman ace who the Sun Devil head coach met years ago while in her mid-teens. Royalty won a Premier Girls Fastpich National Championship with her club – Athletics Mercado/Smith 18U in 2019. However, Royalty’s approach and development as a pitcher has been unorthodox according to Ford, nevertheless, the head coach remains ecstatic to have her on the squad.
“Allison wasn’t here much of the fall, and she has been working with a remote pitching coach. When I first came here, I saw her in a tournament and I was immediately sold. I’ve been waiting for her for a while, we’re excited to see her and Lindsay compete against other teams.”
With this impressive arsenal of arms, the 2021 staff certainly has what it takes to complement the team’s potent offense.
Of course it’s not just ASU reloading their roster following a pandemic-shortened season, the PAC-12 and the entire Division I landscape features returning talent that wouldn’t be back on the scene in a normal season.
“I think you’re really going to see a high level of softball across the country,” Ford said. “I’ve been hearing a lot about some of these ‘super teams’ that have been popping up. There’s definitely going to be a lot of added depth, and I’m excited because I love good softball and I love challenging games.”
The Sun Devils have the tools to get the program to Oklahoma City for the first time since 2018, how it all comes together when the season kicks off in just under a month will ultimately determine where they stand when the dust settles in May.
