(Photo: Joey Plishka/WCSN)
No. 21 Arizona State welcomed the Minnesota Golden Gophers to Farrington Stadium Thursday to open the Littlewood Classic. After dropping the last game of the Kajikawa Classic, the Sun Devils would look to rebound big against the Gophers, who were just coming off a close loss to Grand Canyon University, losing 8-7.
Leadoff batter and junior Jazmine Hill would say it best after tonight’s game, in reference to last week’s loss to end the tournament.
“Our biggest thing as a team was to just learn from last week and just dust it off and come back stronger the next week,” she said. The Sun Devils would do just that, taking home an 8-0 win in six innings at Farrington.
Junior lefty Lindsay Lopez would toe the rubber for Arizona State in her first start of the season against Minnesota’s freshman Emily Leavitt.
The Gophers would look to strike in the first inning with bases loaded but to no avail. The Sun Devils would come out swinging in the first inning, jumping to an early lead thanks to the lead-off home run by Hill. The bats would quiet down after that, with no runs scored until the bottom of four.
Arizona State would carry the lead into the bottom four where its bats would catch fire again, scoring when Mizzou transfer senior Jazmyn Rollin would go yard for her first home run in a Sun Devil uniform — a two-run bomb to right-center field — scoring junior Alynah Torres in the process who had reached base off her own single.
“It was nice to see Jaz Rollin be Jaz Rollin…she’s got tremendous pop,” head coach Trisha Ford said. “I didn’t know if her home run was gonna clear (the wall). It was hit so hard, but a great start to the weekend.”
“(It felt) so good, I’ve been waiting for my first hit to come, and I just sat back, relaxed, and hit the ball hard,” Rollin said. “As soon as it hit the bat, I knew it was going out. I was a little worried about the height of the ball, but it cleared (the wall).”
The Sun Devils would pick back up from where they had left off an inning ago in the fifth, scoring three runs to help extend their lead to six over the Gophers. Sophomore outfielder Yannira Acuña would be the first to drive in runs when she hit the ball deep into left field, sneaking it by Minnesota left fielder MacKenzie Denson. Acuña would get thrown out trying to make it to third base. Nonetheless, Hill and junior Jordyn VanHook scored. That would end the night for Gopher pitcher Leavitt as freshman Nani Valencia would replace her.
Valencia couldn’t control the Sun Devil offense any better than her predecessor, as Rollin would once again step up and drive in a run off a double to right field, scoring freshman first baseman Cydney Sanders, who had reached base off a walk.
The Gophers would load the bases again in the top of the sixth inning via a single by sophomore Sarah Kinch, an error by Torres, then a hit by a pitch. Lopez would bend but not break as she buckled down and forced Denson to hit into a fielder’s choice, where the Sun Devils would take the force at second base to retire Minnesota in the visiting half of inning six.
Needing only two runs to reach the run rule threshold of eight, the Sun Devils would do just that. Hill would reach base with a single to start the inning. Acuña then drove her in with a game-winning two-run home run to center field, sealing Minnesota’s fate
Ford was happy with how her team performed but still knows there is work to be done.
“I think we started off a little slow, but I think as the game went on, we did a much better job in the box. I thought Lindsay threw a heck of a game…we made some defensive miscues, so we still need to clean that up.”
Heading into the rest of the tournament, Arizona State will look to build off their win and fix their defensive miscues.
“Defensively, we need to tidy up…just continuing that work. I think the beginning of the game, we were chasing early up. (Leavitt) has a good rise ball, don’t get me wrong, I just think that we could’ve done a better job.” Ford stated. “But I did like our focus. I liked our intent in the box. There was a lot of good stuff.”
The Sun Devils will look to keep the bats hot as they take on Portland State, that game set for Feb. 18 at 7:00 p.m. MST.
