ASU Softball: No. 6 Sun Devils upset No. 1 UCLA in pitcher’s duel

(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)

Southpaw G Juarez and redshirt senior Marisa Stankiewicz led the No. 6 Arizona State softball team to a 3-0 upset victory over No. 1 UCLA at Easton Stadium Thursday night to end the Bruins 14-game winning streak.

The Sun Devils finally overpowered the Bruins after being swept in the two previous series against UCLA.

“We knew coming in, playing the number one seed in the nation, that it wasn’t going to be easy, but if we stick to our game and plan, that we can do great things,” said Stankiewicz.

This type of victory isn’t unfamiliar for the Sun Devils as they previously upset Washington back in mid-March when the Huskies were ranked No. 1 in the nation.

“We played ASU softball, we didn’t worry about who they were, what they are ranked, we don’t worry about that stuff,” said Juarez. “We stayed in our bubble and we had big timely hits.”

The majority of the game was dominated by a pitcher’s duel between Juarez and UCLA’s own Rachel Garcia. Garcia entered Thursday night with a 1.01 earned run average and seven shutouts.

“You just saw two of the best, I think, collegiate pitchers face-off and G won,” said ASU head coach Trisha Ford. “I think she made big pitches when she needed to and it was a fun game.”

Garcia allowed two hits on the night, one came from Stankiewicz in the fourth inning to give the Sun Devils the lead. In Stankiewicz’s first at-bat with Garcia she seemed patient, waiting for the perfect pitch to doom UCLA.

Before Stankiewicz’s home run to left field, Danielle Gibson was hit by a pitch, allowing her to get to first. Ashley Moss entered the game for Gibson to be a pinch runner. Then Morgan Howe hit a single to Garcia to get onto first and advance Moss.

Stankiewicz’s home run was powered out of Easton Stadium into the trees behind the outfield to give ASU a 3-0 lead.

“It shows what kind of team we are capable of being and doing the little things, taking that pitch, getting hit by it and putting that bunt down,” said Stankiewciz. “And getting runners on for me to be able to come up big like that is awesome.”

By the end of the game Garcia threw ten strikeouts while earning herself only her second loss this season.

In her 12 shut out of the 2018 season, Juarez threw nine strikeouts against the Bruins who have the second highest batting average (.347) in the nation. Juarez’s no-hitter came to a conclusion in the fifth inning when Madeline Jelenicki hit a single to the ASU shortstop Jade Gortarez.

“It shows how good G is, that kid is a sophomore who didn’t really play as much as she wanted to last year,” said Ford. “She’s getting her opportunities and she’s shining bright and I can’t say enough about what she means to our program.”

“It just builds our confidence going into post season knowing that we can hang with any team,” said Juarez. “But knowing that we can hang with the number one team, this win’s huge but this game is one of three, so we just have to get back to work tomorrow.”

The series isn’t over as the two teams will face off once again at 7 p.m. Friday, May 11 at Easton Stadium.

“We have nothing to lose, we get to come out here and be loose, be aggressive and play our game,” said Ford.