ASU Softball: No. 22 Sun Devils defeat No. 14 Northwestern in walk-off fashion after loss to Western Michigan

(Photo: Marlee Smith/WCSN)

The Arizona State Sun Devils found a way to cap off what was a disappointing day with a 6-5 win over No. 14 Northwestern.

Senior Kindra Hackbarth, with one out left in the bottom of the seventh inning, blasted a two-run home run to center field to win the game after being down 5-4.

“That’s what big players do in big situations,” head coach Trisha Ford said after the game.

The Sun Devils started behind in the early goings of the contest after Northwestern’s Rachel Lewis blasted a home run to left field on the first pitch of the game.

Back-to-back dingers from infielder Alynah Torres and thirdbaseman Kiara Kennedy in the second inning provided some much-needed offense to tie the game.

Starter Cielo Meza struggled early on giving up three runs in the first three innings and was taken out to begin the fifth inning.

Junior transfer from Alabama left-hander, Madison Preston, took over for Meza and struck out five while allowing just one hit in three innings of relief.  

“She’s come into really stressful situations and made big pitches in those stressful situations,” Ford said. “I’m just proud of her, honestly, I want her to continue. She’s finding her mojo and she’s looking good on there; she’s got good presence.”

ASU began to chip away at Northwestern’s lead eventually tying the game in the fifth inning thanks to a Bella Loomis triple that scored Hackbarth from first base.

After battling the entire game, Preston coming in and shutting down the opposing side gave the team some much needed motivation.

“Honestly, most of us are doing it for Preston,” Hackberth said after the game. “Preston has been coming in and shutting everyone down. She’s coming from my situation from a transfer not playing at Alabama coming in just like I did at Fresno and she’s killing, so honestly just in the back of my head I doing as much as I could for Preston and having her back as much as she has our back.”

It wasn’t all good for the Sun Devils though, the team dropped the first game to Western Michigan losing 9-7.

Starter Samantha Mejia struggled once again allowing four earned runs, six hits and two walks in just 3.1 innings. On Friday, she allowed four runs in three innings as well.

Defensively, the Sun Devils had two costly errors that brought in two runs for the Broncos, all coming in the second inning in which Western Michigan scored three runs.

ASU’s only lead in the game came after putting up four runs in the second inning. Infielder Denae Chatman’s home run and Hackbarth’s double to drive in two runners fired up the crowd as the Sun Devils found some life offenisvely.

After a three run fifth inning by Western Michigan, Preston once again stepped up allowing only one hit in two innings pitched coming in for relief of freshman Lindsay Lopez.

The Broncos starter, Sydney Stefanick, kept the Sun Devils off balance for much of the game. But ASU battled back in the sixth inning scoring three runs to make it close. Stefanick stayed in for the entire game though and her team claimed their first win of the season.

For Ford, she felt the first game was a learning experience for her young squad and that they’re growing as a team because of it.

“We didn’t execute any facet of our game that first game,” Ford said. “I told them; we’ve got to learn to bounce back.

“Yes, bad game, what are you going to do, Northwestern’s a phenomenal team, they obviously were in supers last year and did a great job. They’ve got a good all-around attack, so it’s a testament of kind of what we’re trying to grow, we’re only on game four of the year, but that’s we’re trying to do; how do you respond, how do you react, how do you come out with a win after a really tough loss.”

Other players felt the same way, including Preston who mentioned that losing to Western Michigan showed that everyone is coming after ASU this season.

“We are a young team, I feel like the first game today showed that, just by us thinking that we could go into it and just win just because who we were,” Preston said. “I just think we just learned that everyone’s out to beat us, but we’re out to beat everyone and we can compete against anybody and it’s just up to us deciding really what we want to do and how we want to play.”

As for Meza and Mejia’s outings, it was a tough day for both starters and the entire team at times.

“It was a rough day all around,” coach Ford said with regards to her starters’ performances on Saturday. “I think everyone contributed to it. We’re a really close team, so when one’s bad, we’re all bad. When one’s good, we’re all good apparently.”

ASU will now try to improve their 3-1 record with two games left in the Kajikawa Classic. On Sunday, they’ll play Seattle and will finish up the tournament with a game on Monday against No. 12 Tennessee.

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