(Photo: Troy Tauscher/WCSN)
No. 17 Arizona State softball (19-7) bounced back from a tough loss to New Mexico State with dominant wins over Nebraska and Lehigh on Saturday.
“I thought we responded well today,” head coach Trisha Ford said. “We were way more focused today and I loved our bite.”
Plate discipline was the name of the game as the Sun Devils took advantage of the pitches en route to two strong offensive showings.
Nebraska
The first game of the doubleheader started with leadoff hitter Kindra Hackbarth knocking the fourth pitch beyond the fence. Hackbarth did not hold back as she dominated the box with two hits and two runs in four at-bats.
“I stuck to my plan,” Hackbarth said, “That’s been really big for our team. Sticking to our plans and holding to them and I think we did a better job tonight than we did last night.”
Innings two and three were almost identical as both teams struggled to gain momentum against either pitcher. Both ASU’s Cielo Meza and Nebraska’s Olivia Ferrell retired the first three batters in each inning. Meza recorded two strikeouts in the second and Ferrell did the same in the third.
The fourth inning is where the tug-of-war began. Nebraska tied the game at one after Tristen Edwards, who recorded the first hit against Meza on the day, reached home plate off a Ferrell RBI. ASU responded with a double from Alynah Torres and an RBI double from Alli Tatnall to regain the advantage.
Another pair of RBI doubles from Samantha Owen and Edwards gave Nebraska its first lead of the night. Once again, ASU responded swiftly with four runs of its own. Makenna Harper scored after a Maddi Hackbarth RBI double, followed by a Denae Chatman RBI. The scoring affair was topped off with an Alynah Torres two-RBI double to bring the score to 6-3.
“I liked our fight,” Ford said. “They would score and we would answer back. It was good for us to battle through that and break through at the end.”
When facing a pitcher like Ferrell, keeping to the plan when at the plate becomes prevalent as ever. Scoring four runs off four hit is the box score embodiment of plate discipline. It is what gave the team the win on Saturday and what hurt the team in the loss on Friday.
Meza was relieved by Madison Preston who shut down the Cornhuskers’ offense in the final two innings. One final run off Chatman’s 12th RBI and the final score of 7-3 was produced.
Lehigh
While the first contest was close for the majority of the time, the second was a blowout from the first inning. The Sun Devils wound up scoring 12 runs in the first inning and went through the entire batting order twice.
Once again, Kindra Hackbarth sent the ball to the surface of the sun on her first at-bat. The go-ahead homer was her sixth on the season.
A single from Maddi Hackbarth, three walks, two wild pitches and only one out later, Lehigh pitcher Lainey Stephenson was replaced by Jaelynn Chesson. Chesson didn’t have much more success as she was later replaced by Stephenson after getting one out amidst 10 ASU runs.
“When we set the tone, we’re in a good spot,” Ford said after the game.
Stephenson had a tough time finding the strike zone as she pitched ball after ball and gave up ten walks throughout the game.
While plate discipline had a different meaning in this game, staying true to the tape again made all the difference. Taking advantage of the walks and the balls and not trying to make the tough hit put the Mountain Hawks in danger early and practically wrapped up the game after one inning.
Samantha Mejia earned two strikeouts in the third, keeping the mercy rule alive. The final ASU run was courtesy of freshman Jordan VanHook who crushed the ball beyond left field.
A scoreless fourth left the Mountain Hawks one last chance at manufacturing an impossible 16 point comeback. Mejia and Torres made sure that didn’t happen with a strikeout, then threw out Carley Barjaktarovi at second to end the game.
Trisha Ford’s squad will look to finish its last tournament strong with more solid pitching and disciplined at-bats on Sunday against Lehigh and Ohio State before taking on the Pac-12.
