(Photo: Alli Cline/WCSN)
The Arizona State Sun Devils (31-18) rode a seven-run third inning to a five-inning 20-0, mercy rule blowout of Stanford (16-33), in the first contest of ASU’s final road series of the regular season.
Just fifteen days away from the start of the NCAA Tournament, ASU appears to be playing its best on both the offensive and defensive sides of the diamond.
It was easy to overlook the stellar pitching performance that took place in the circle for ASU Friday, considering every Sun Devil batter recorded a hit,
Breanna Macha was looking to get into a groove before her first collegeate postseason, surrendering just one hit through four innings of shutout ball before being replaced by Alexis Cooper in the fifth.
Macha, a freshman, struck out just one and walked nobody on her way to picking up her fifteenth win of the season in the run-rule shortened outing.
While the great showing came against the lowest ranked team in the conference, it served as a good confidence builder for Macha as the team winds down the regular season.
The offense certainly had her back, scoring 20 runs on 19 hits and an astounding 10 walks.
Even more shocking was the fact that the only strikeout for ASU offensively came from senior catcher Amber Freeman, just the ninth time she has K’d all year.
The Arizona State bats heated up in the first, with three consecutive singles. An Amber Freeman bases loaded walk, and a Haley Steele sac-fly gave ASU an early 2-0 lead after the first frame.
The Sun Devils would be back at it in the third, scoring three more runs on a Sashel Palacios single and a pair of doubles, courtesy of Steele and Nikki Girard.
Later in the third, Jennifer Soria ended the Sun Devils’ three-game homeless streak by launching a three-run bomb over the trees behind the center field wall. The round tripper extended ASU’s lead to 8-0, quickly qualifying them with necessary run differential for the mercy rule.
The Sun Devil hitters tacked on 10 runs on 10 hits in the fifth and couldn’t seem to get out if they tried. Even with nearly half of the starters being replaced by bench players, almost every batter seemed to find their way on base, whether it be by the way of a hit, walk or error.
Later in the same frame, Haley Steele ripped a bases loaded double into the gap in left-center to give herself her 199th and 200th RBI of her career. This placing her third all time in both categories in program history.
The 20-0 win marked the first shutout for the Sun Devils since their 2-0 win over Michigan in the Judi Gorman Classic.
The 20-run differential was also ASU’s biggest blowout of the season. It’s certainly tough to imagine a better start for ASU in their final road series of the regular season.
The explosion was somewhat predictable considering the caliber of competition, but it’s still extremely rare to see an offense and defense simultaneously dominate its competition as it did tonight.
The win evens out Arizona State’s conference record to 9-9, a number they will look to build on over the course of these next two matchups with the Cardinal.
First pitch is set for 5:00 p.m. PT Saturday, and can be seen streaming live on the Pac-12 Networks.
