(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)
The basepaths of Farrington Stadium were again well-worn on Sunday after the No. 16 Arizona State Sun Devils completed the ASU Invitational with a dominant 12-0, five-inning win over the South Dakota Coyotes.
Second baseman Bella Loomis continued her excellent weekend, launching two home runs to total six RBI. The first came on a grand slam where she was down 0-2 in the count, part of a seven-run bottom of the first for ASU.
Loomis has shown drastic improvement at the plate in her sophomore season, but her last five games have taken ASU’s offense to another level. Over the tournament, she hit .462 with 12 RBI. Four of her six hits over the weekend cleared the wall.
“I’m just more comfortable in the box,” Loomis said. “I changed my stance, did different things. I just feel comfortable.”
Loomis has been batting ninth over the last several games, a spot not usually associated with one of the hottest bats in the order. For ASU head coach Trisha Ford, the value of having such production late in the order is worth the chance she might see fewer at-bats while in that spot.
“She’s just great at turning our lineup over,” Ford said. “We’ve thrown it around, but it hasn’t really had a lot of traction. We’re just going to let her stay there and be good. ”
While Loomis headlined another high-scoring day for the Devils, she was far from the only player in the ASU lineup feeling it in the batter’s box. The team as a whole collected 12 hits and three home runs in 23 at-bats. Shortstop Jade Gortarez went 3-for-3 on the day with two doubles and two RBI.
The great hitting, particularly from Loomis and Gortarez, more than outweighed some defensive miscues on Sunday. The pair of middle infielders were responsible for three errors against the Coyotes, an uncharacteristically poor showing from a usually steady duo of defenders. Gortarez had four errors on the weekend after only making one in 21 games prior.
“It’s not really her skillset,” Ford said of Gortarez’s struggles on defense. “It’s her rushing things and kind of looking up before she secures the ball. Honestly, Jade’s the hardest person on herself and she knows what she is doing.”
Fortunately for ASU, it had not only high offensive output to cover for any mistakes, but a standout game from freshman pitcher Abby Andersen. She pitched a complete five innings, giving up only three hits and no walks. With 11 groundouts and 39 strikes on 55 pitches, she did everything she needed to in regards to the defensive gameplan. Ford confidently called it her best game of the year.
“She had good command,” Ford said. “You could see some distinct separation of her pitches. We made some defensive errors behind her and she held her composure really well. She controlled the things that she could control and she threw a lot of groundball outs.”
Players like Andersen and Loomis are finding their stride at the right time with Pac-12 play beginning on Friday against Oregon State. The Pac-12 features teams just as adept with their bats as ASU is proving to be. That includes rival Arizona, who entered the weekend leading the nation in home runs per game.
“We can hit with anybody in the country,” Ford said. “It’s just important for us for the circle area to keep us in games. I think we always have a shot, and it was really nice to see Abby put a great game together.”
ASU’s final opponent before conference play begins will be a familiar one. After a scrappy 4-1 loss to the Devils on Saturday, the Lehigh Mountain Hawks will be looking for some revenge when they return to Farrington on Tuesday.
