(Photo: Liesl Babicka/WCSN)
Despite giving up six errors in a matter of seven innings, the No. 8 Arizona State softball team pulled out a 4-3 win against the Stanford Cardinal in the first game of a series.
Even though Stanford is second to last in the Pac-12 rankings, they weren’t a team that ASU could overlook. This was evident from the get-go in Friday night’s game.
In the first inning, Kristina Inouye hit a double to right field allowing two Stanford runs to score, and the Cardinal would throw the first punch early against the Sun Devils.
In the circle, ASU left-handed pitcher G Juarez did not allow the early runs to determine how she pitched the rest of the game.
“It’s just throwing my game and not worrying about anything else that’s going on, errors, no errors, whether we are hitting or not, just focusing on me and my zone,” said Juarez.
The Sun Devils ended the game with 11 hits, overpowering Stanford’s five that plated them three runs.
ASU continued to make contact throughout the game, but were inconsistent, only stranding runners inning after inning. It wasn’t until the fourth inning that the offense finally came together.
Morgan Howe cranked the ball out of Farrington Stadium to cut the Stanford lead in half. It was a glimmer of hope that the Sun Devils needed to push forward.
That wasn’t the only home run hit Friday night as freshman DeNae Chatman blasted a two-run homerun into centerfield to take the first Sun Devil lead of the game, 3-2.
“It’s really exciting,” said Chatman. “I think having all these plate appearances has given me more confidence and being more comfortable in the box.”
The game seemed to be rolling to an end as the final inning came around. But, Stanford had some other plans in mind.
Juarez’s first batter of the seventh inning made it to base by another Sun Devil error. She then faced one more batter before being relieved by senior Breanna Macha.
Macha started off her relief rough as Lauren Frost was hit by a pitch which made the bases loaded. The wave turned when Macha struck out her next batter.
But, it continued in the favor of Stanford when Whitney Burks reached base on sixth and final fielding error. Bella Loomis was unable to throw the ball anywhere allowing the tying run to score.
Macha walked away from the jam as she struck out the final two batters.
“The last two weeks I’ve seen the old Macha, the fierce competitor, barking on the field,” said head coach Trisha Ford. “It was really cool to see Macha come in and close a game out like we needed her to.”
Stanford made their third pitching change when Maddy Dwyer came to the circle to try to draw out the game. With one out on the board senior Marisa Stankiewicz entered the batter’s box.
Stankiewicz hit a double off the wall, a ball that looked like it was going to escape the field. Her double was all the Sun Devils needed to manufacture a run.
Brynley Steele pinch ran for Stankiewicz. Steele awaited a hit from Jade Gortarez to move her to third base. Gortarez decided one base wasn’t enough for Steele and hit a walk-off double to left field.
“Right when she hit it I thought it was out and I chucked my bat down the third base line…that’s big for her,” said Gortarez. “I wish she would’ve hit it out on senior weekend but getting on was big in that situation as well, so I just knew I had to do my job.”
The 4-3 win wasn’t how ASU expected to win against Stanford. They had a troublesome night defensively which could have costed them the game.
“(I’m) not happy with what we showed up on the field today, not happy with our focus, I don’t know if we ever this year have given up this many errors in one game,” said Ford. “I think we absolutely need to tidy up.”
“We don’t give up, that’s not what kind of team we are, we are a gritty team that will fight till the very last out,” said Juarez. “That’s our standard and that’s what we did.”
The Sun Devils will play the Cardinal Saturday night at 6 p.m. and look to have a clean win instead of a nail biter.
