ASU Softball: Gonzalez seals Game 1 with 2-run RBI double

Photo: Alli Cline/WCSN

Arizona State took an unlikely rout to pick up its 30th win of the season against the fourth place team in the Pac-12, Utah.

It was contact hitting that allowed the Sun Devils to grind out a 6-4 win in the first game of a must win, three game series.

ASU and Utah feature inexperienced pitching staffs, but that does not mean they lack talent. Both squads went with its number one starter and both are freshman. For the Sun Devils, Breanna Macha got the call and for the Utes, Miranda Viramontes.

The Utes are not known for their offensive prowess but on Friday they showed up with the long ball. They struck first in the very first inning when Kate Dickman launched her seventh home run of the season just over the outstretched glove of Abby Spiel.

Arizona State answered with a run of its own in the bottom of the fifth on a Haley Steele RBI single to tie the game.

The score held still for an inning until the third when Utah’s other star hitter, Hannah Flippen cranked a two run home run off of Macha.

The Utes tacked on one more run in the fourth inning to take the 4-1 lead on another home run, this time off the bat of Bridget Castro. Through four innings Utah had four runs on only four hits.

“Being down in the fourth inning we’re not going to panic,” Coach Craig Nicholson said. “We’re just going to keep doing what we do.”

What ASU does is hit and the Sun Devils offense, like normal, would not give up without a fight and they brought the score to 4-2 with a run in the fourth inning.

After a four pitch one, two, three inning from Macha ASU answered with four runs in the bottom of the fifth. The top of the order did its job with RBIs from Sierra Rodriguez and Elizabeth Caporuscio. Chelsea Gonzales topped the inning off with a line drive double to centerfield bringing home two more runs. Sun Devils took the 6-4 lead.

“We aren’t trying to just hit home runs,” Gonzales said. “We’re trying to get hits and get runners on base so we can score.”

The Devils had 14 hits in the game with the only extra base hit being Gonzales’ double in the fifth.

Macha continued to shut down the Utah batters and brought home a scoreless sixth and seventh inning of work for the complete game win.

“You have to have a short term memory as a pitcher and pick yourself right back up,” Macha said.

The freshman pitcher showed a lot of growth recovering from a shaky start in the game. Macha managed to only give up four hits in the outing, and picked up her 10th complete game.

The Sun Devils take a step in the right direction and with a win Saturday can pass Utah in the Pac 12 rankings. First pitch is 7:30 at Farrington Stadium.