(Photo: Marlee Smith/WCSN)
When ASU flew home from El Paso following their historic weekend at the Orange and Blue tournament, their bats may have ended up on another flight. By the time this mishap was sorted out, the offensive juggernaut that is No. 11 ASU softball (16-1) had been held scoreless through the game’s first two innings.
“It’s been a long ten days they haven’t had a lot of down time,” head coach Trisha Ford said. “We weren’t doing a great job of being selective, but we came around and figured things out, a bunch of them put together great at bats in the third and fourth innings.”
In the home half of the third, senior Kindra Hackbarth made sure this trend would be short-lived when she dug in for the second time. She laced a deep drive down the right field line that looked like it would break the scoreless tie and put the Sun Devils on top. As the ball sailed over the foul pole, the first base umpire emphatically singled foul. Hackbarth was unphased. Two pitches later she smacked a solo shot to deep center, leaving nothing up to chance.
It was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
ASU poured it on for the rest of the evening, polishing off yet another run rule 10–2 victory over Northern Illinois (3-6) at Farrington Stadium in Tempe.
“I love how hard everyone’s been working,” Ford said of her team’s red hot start. “Our players have put in countless hours and it is really showing.”
Later in the frame, with two outs and the bases loaded, junior Makenna Harper lofted a two run single over the shortstop, extending the inning for Brittany Holland. The redshirt junior transfer broke the game open with a line drive into the right center field gap, scoring two and giving ASU the 5-0 advantage.
For sophomore lefty starter Lindsay Lopez, the ample run support was familiar. In almost every game she has appeared in, the ASU bats have given her loud and resounding assistance.
Lopez continued her impressive campaign in the circle. She went all five innings, striking out four Huskies and surrendering two runs on just two hits. The Sun Devil pitching staff has been nearly as impressive as the offense, posting a 2.82 ERA through the season’s first 17 games. Ford has rolled out the three headed monster of Lopez, sixth-year senior Cielo Meza and freshman Allison Royalty.
“We’re going to stick with those three,” Ford said. “Lindsay has done a tremendous job and we’ve been pleased with our pitchers overall, but we’ve still got some good growth to look forward to.”
In the bottom of the fourth, ASU exploded for another five run inning. After sophomore Jazmine Hill singled with one out, senior Maddi Hackbarth laced a double down the left field line, scoring Hill all the way from first. With two outs, senior Alli Tatnall singled home Hackbarth, and the rout was on. The cherry on top would come in the form of a three run blast from Harper, giving ASU the 10-2 lead they would take to the locker room.
“Holland and Harp were great,” Ford said. “Harp’s a competitor, She’s done a tremendous job putting in work after she sat for a while last year. I’m proud of her.”
These big wins are becoming the norm for the Sun Devils, as the team seems to be hitting their stride just in time for conference play. They open up on March 19 at No. 2 UCLA.
“We’re so solid from the top to the bottom of our order,” Harper said. “We’re just having a lot of fun right now.”
