(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)
After being named the No. 8 team in the nation headed into the postseason, the Arizona State softball team won its first game of the 2018 NCAA Tournament Friday night 2-0 against New Mexico State.
Southpaw Giselle “G” Juarez almost claimed a no-hitter, but it was broken in the seventh inning.
The crowd, as it was during the regular season, continued to show its strength in Friday’s game.
“It feeds into us too, their energy we build off of,” outfielder Morgan Howe said. “It’s just awesome.”
New Mexico State pitcher Analise De La Roca started the game by walking Kindra Hackbarth. Taylor Becerra followed Hackbarth with a successful bunt that ended up being a hit.
With two runners on, Howe doubled, allowing Hackbarth and Becerra to touch home, but was thrown out at third base trying to stretch her hit into a triple.
Juarez contained the 2-0 score for the Sun Devils throughout the game. At one point, the sophomore recorded eight strikeouts in a row over a span of three innings.
“We do a really good job of when we put up some runs, G (Juarez) closes it out, she’s been put in a fun position that she is like, ‘Give me a run and I’ll go from there,’” head coach Trisha Ford said. “I think we do a great job of complimenting each other, I think our offense came up and got some big runs early in the game and I think it allowed G to throw a little more loose.”
After the first inning excitement, ASU quietly went up inning by inning. Despite making contact with the ball, nobody was able to get on base.
After the first inning, it wasn’t until the fourth inning that a Sun Devil ended up on base. Marisa Stankiewicz was walked, but the drive came to conclusion when Jade Gortarez hit a groundout to the NMSU shortstop.
DeNae Chatman led off the bottom of the fifth with a hit into the gap between center and right field but was tagged out at second. Following Chatman, Maddi Hackbarth hit a single into the exact same spot as Chatman.
Even after Kindra Hackbarth walked, adding a second runner for the Sun Devils, Taylor Becerra grounded out ending the offensive burst from ASU.
The Aggies were unable to create offense until the seventh inning when Kelsey Horton singled to left field.
Horton’s single was matched by Fahren Glackin’s single to right field the following at-bat. With only one out, Juarez walked Victoria Castro to load the bases.
The Aggies fate was in the hands of Amy Bergeson to bring her teammates home. Instead, she lined out to Becerra at third, who was quick to turn around and dive to third base to tag out Horton to end the game.
“I don’t have words for it besides excitement,” Juarez said of Becerra’s game ending play.
The two singles were the lone hits of the game for New Mexico State.
“We made a lot of loud outs tonight, right at them,” Ford said. “Sometimes that’s how it goes, but I am confident that tomorrow (we hit harder) I told them to hit it harder.”
With a 2-0 win over the Aggies, the Sun Devils will play Ole Miss Saturday, May 19, at 2 p.m.
