(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)
The Arizona State Sun Devils experienced a blend of highs and lows on Thursday, winning against Np. 21 James Madison and losing to No. 25 Michigan on the first day of the ASU Invitational.
Coming off the heels of a big victory at home over top ten Texas last weekend, ASU began play versus the Dukes of James Madison. Things did not start well for the Devils, as starting pitcher Cielo Meza was yanked from the game after three consecutive walks to start the contest.
Freshman Abby Andersen would enter the game and take the circle for the Devils, but couldn’t quite clean up the mess she inherited, surrendering two runs before getting out of the inning. After failing to spark the offense and conceding a solo shot to JMU junior infielder Madison Naujokas, the second inning would come to close with ASU down 3-0.
ASU refused to back down, as Kiara Kennedy stole a homer from All-American pitcher Megan Good that meandered its way out of the park about an inch away from becoming foul down the left-hand line. Skylar McCarty would smash a double later in the inning that drove in Kindra Hackbarth. From there, it was game on.
After some great pitching by both Anderson and Good, the scoring would subside until the sixth, where the Dukes would extend their lead to two as a result of some shoddy fielding from ASU.
The bottom of the sixth and top of the seventh would pass quietly, and the time came for the Devils to have one last bite at the apple trailing by two.
The inning would start with a groundout by freshman designated player Yanni Accuña and a walk of Kennedy. Bella Loomis belted a two-run shot beyond the wall and into the great wide world beyond to tie the game, and they were not done.
Just a handful of pitches later and an inning-ending double play narrowly avoided, Morgan Howe would say hello to a homer and walk it off and style.
“Honestly, I didn’t know it was leaving the yard,” Howe said. “The whole game she was coming curveballs in. Those were the only strikeouts I was getting. The first pitch of the last at-bat was something off the plate and I was like “that’s kind of interesting, she hasn’t thrown me outside yet” so I figured she was going to throw there one more time. I got lucky I guess.”
Andersen was another hero from the day as she tossed six and two-thirds innings with only one earned run in relief.
“My team is fighting, so I’m going to fight,” Anderson remarked on the performance. “Days like today show that we have fight and grit and can get things done.”
The Devils’ day was not done there, though, as they would now face a stout test from Michigan and the reigning NCAA player of the week, pitcher Meghan Beaubien.
Again ASU started slow, only scoring once in the opening five innings and only recording three hits. Michigan, on the other hand, despite the best efforts of junior pitcher Samantha Mejia, was able to muster three runs by the end of the top of the fifth. ASU was once more in a hole.
That hole grew deeper, as Michigan exploded in the sixth for three more runs and busted the game open.
ASU, again, dug in, scoring four runs in the sixth to make it a one-run game again.
Michigan would take one back to make it 7-5, but Andersen came out again and shut the door. The Sun Devils went into the bottom of the seventh inning trailing by two yet again.
Things began to look very similar to previous proceedings as Howe turned on another one, blazing a long ball to right and over the wall with one out to cut the gap back down to one.
However, this time, it was not in the cards for ASU. Sophomore first basemen Denae Chatman and junior catcher Maddi Hackbarth would both hit into outs and the game would close in a Sun Devils’ loss.
“I was just super happy with our approach in the box,” ASU head coach Trisha Ford said. “I think they did a heck of a job today. I think we gotta pitch a little bit better in certain situations and play a little bit better on defense and we come out with two W’s today”.
The Devils will look to keep up the hot hitting as they are back to work on March 8 as they face New Mexico State at Farrington stadium and continue play in the ASU Invitational.
