(Photo via Nicole Mullen/WCSN)
ASU Softball played a doubleheader on Friday night, with its first game being against the University of New Mexico and its second game being against the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
In their first matchup against New Mexico (8-11), the Sun Devils (12-3) started freshman right-handed pitcher Kylee Magee on the mound. Magee pitched a clean first inning to bring up the bats for the Devils, who started quickly with a leadoff triple off the bat of graduate outfielder Yannira Acuña.
Following Acuña’s at-bat, ASU wasted no time in bringing her home. The Sun Devils got on the board first thanks to an RBI groundout by junior outfielder Emily Cazares that scored Acuña for the first run of the game.
Magee had another fast and clean inning in the second, sending it right back to the offense. ASU recorded three singles in a row to quickly load the bases for junior catcher Sara Kinch, who hit a sacrifice fly, bringing in one run to extender her team’s lead to 2-0 heading into the third.
Magee pitched another scoreless inning, and the Devils continued to add on in the third, starting with a double from Acuña. She then stole second base and made it home to score after a throwing error by the Lobos’ defense.
After three clean innings by Magee, she struggled to begin the fourth, allowing a walk to junior infielder Rachael Hathoot. Hathoot went on to score off a single to center field by sophomore infielder Emma Bramson, adding the first run on the board for New Mexico. Magee was taken out midinning in favor of junior righty Deborah Jones. In relief, Jones managed to get ASU out of the inning with just one run allowed.
Arizona State answered back in the fourth. Senior outfielder Jazmine Hill hit a single to get on base and was scored by an infield single by Acuña. The single also marked Acuña’s third straight hit of the night.
Jones opened the fifth inning by allowing two walks and a single. Hathoot, once again, was able to get on base, scoring a runner this time as well. Senior infielder Jordyn VanHook quickly reset the Lobos’s deficit to three with her 10th homer of the season, becoming the first player to 10 homers in Division I softball this season.
Later, Graduate right-handed pitcher Marissa Schuld entered the circle to get the last nine outs of the game. Arizona State added another late run thanks to a sacrifice fly by Acuña to make it a 6-2 ballgame.
In a stellar display of consistency at the plate, Acuña was just a home run away from hitting for the cycle in ASU’s first game of the Sun Devil Classic. Nonetheless, her triple, double and single during the first helped boost the Sun Devils to a win and increased Acuña’s batting average to .460 on the season.
“Yanni Acuna is one of the most powerful and efficient hitters I think I’ve seen at this level,” head coach Megan Bartlett said. “I mean, she is outstanding. She’s a tough ball player, and she’s doing a really good job for us out in center field. …I just feel really grateful I got to coach her last year. I would keep her for 20 years if I could.”
After recording the win in the first game, ASU went head-to-head against Charlotte (10-5). For this matchup, it was sophomore righty pitcher Kenize Brown who got the start.
After a clean pitching performance by both starting pitchers in the first inning, the 49ers started to adjust to Brown’s pitching in the second. With two runners on base, an RBI single off the bat of sophomore pitcher Sam Gress gave her team a 1-0 lead. Later that same inning, the 49ers increased their lead to 5-0 thanks to a series of hits allowed, walks given up and errors made by the Sun Devils’ defense.
After allowing five runs through just 1.1 innings, ASU went to its bullpen and exchanged Brown with Junior pitcher Mac Osborne who would pitch the remainder of the game. Osborne allowed one more run in the second inning in the form of an RBI groundout for graduate utility player Bailey Vannoy to give Charlotte a 6-0 lead.
The Sun Devils added some runs of their own with another VanHook, bringing her season total to 11. Graduate infielder Alexa Milius used an RBI double to add one more run on the board for ASU in the second inning.
Despite putting the pieces together on offense, ASU could not find a way to overcome its defensive mistakes. Charlotte’s lead ballooned to seven runs in the third inning due to a three-run homer hit by senior infielder Cori Hoffler, and the 49ers tacked on one more in the fourth due to another couple of errors. All 11 runs scored by Charlotte in Friday night’s game were unearned.
Despite the deficit, ASU continued to fight until the end. Several individuals were able to find success at the plate and add to their offensive statistics. Graduate outfielder Makenna Harper hit her third home run of the season, and redshirt freshman Taylor Nicholson recorded her first RBI as a Sun Devil with a sacrifice fly to plate Acuña in the fifth. Ultimately, ASU came up short in its second game of the day, falling to Charlotte 11-5.
According to Bartlett, the biggest problem with her team’s performance was the constant jams the young pitching staff found themselves in that Charlotte was able to exploit. With three more games left this weekend in the Sun Devil Classic, Bartlett and her team will be hoping that the pitchers can work out their kinks.
“This is the point of the season where you’re trying to figure out matchups and lineups and who can get it done under pressure, especially on the mound,” Bartlett said. “We have the luxury of having five really good arms, but we need to start to figure out who can get out of their own jams.”
