(Photo via Nicole Mullen/WCSN)
On Tuesday, Arizona State Softball hosted its makeup game against Grand Canyon in hopes of ending its homestand with a win before heading to California to face No. 2 UCLA.
Arizona State (21-17) however was incapable of pulling off a comeback and added another loss after getting swept by then-No. 17 Oregon this past weekend. Despite closing the deficit to one run in the sixth inning, ASU still came up just short against the Lopes (34-9).
In the first inning, ASU starter sophomore right-handed pitcher Kenzie Brown allowed a single to junior infielder Katelyn Dunckel which then cleared the way for a two-run homer from senior outfielder Kristin Fifield. This gave the Lopes an early 2-0 lead.
After no runs were scored for the Sun Devils in the bottom half of the first, Brown gave up another single to senior infielder Madison Schaefer in the second. After stealing second, Schafer was brought home by an RBI single hit by senior infielder Macee Barnes to add to the Lopes’ lead.
With Brown allowing runs in back-to-back innings, head coach Megan Bartlett decided to pull her starter after just two inning of work.
“Kenzie is really good, but I don’t think she pitched well,” Bartlett said. “They were scoring off her in consecutive innings; that’s not a normal thing for her. Kenzie is normally a middle reliever for us, and she just didn’t have her best stuff tonight. Kenzie made two mistakes and then back-to-back it was hit and then jack, so she just didn’t have her best stuff. Early in a game like that, I expect her to spin the ball a little more than that.”
Despite Brown’s early struggles, her reliever, graduate righty Marissa Schuld, was able to shut down the Lopes offense for the remainder of the night. In her second extended outing in three days, Schuld pitched a perfect five innings and struck out four batters along the way.
“She’s our veteran in the bullpen,” Bartlett said. “The only reason she’s thrown such a condensed amount was that we were just constantly trying to get the ball in her hands with the game on the line. She’s got the experience, and no matter what situation Marissa is put in, she’s great. She’s tough, and she’s competitive, and it’s really fun to watch.”
After falling behind early, the Sun Devils had some work to do at the plate. It was none other than senior infielder Jordyn VanHook who started the scoring for ASU, hitting her 16th home run of the season to make it 3-1 GCU in the bottom of the third inning.
Then in the bottom of the sixth, graduate outfielder Yannira Acuña hit her 10th long ball of the season to close the gap to one run. But even after two solo homers and a stellar performance from Schuld, Arizona State couldn’t put it all together, falling to Grand Canyon 3-2.
With a difficult series ahead this weekend against No. 2 UCLA, ASU Softball will need to learn from their mistakes during this losing streak and in order to prepare for and have a chance against the powerhouse Bruins.
“We’re always gonna do what’s right for the matchup and the ball club at that moment,” Bartlett said. “Right now I think we need kids with some confidence and grit better with experience. (We need players that can) go into an extremely tough conference schedule and start to grind it out. These conferences are really good so we’re not the only team in this situation, but we do have a lot of veteran experience back, and we will try to leverage it the best we can. We need to find a way to capture our energy and create our momentum and UCLA will be a great test for that.”
