(Photo: Joey Pliska/WCSN)
With home runs, pitching duels, unsung heroes and heartbreaks, day three of the Littlewood Classic was an up and down roller coaster as No. 21 Arizona State took on Illinois State and Minnesota and in a double header which ended with a win 12-2 victory over Illinois State and a hard fought 7-5 loss to Minnesota.
ASU vs. Illinois State
Arizona State, coming off their win over Portland State on Friday, took on Illinois State in game one of the doubleheader. Illinois State, who had lost to Minnesota mere minutes before playing Arizona State, were still stuck on their loss, and the Sun Devils took advantage of it right away.
It started in the first when the top four batters in ASU’s line-up walked to score the first run. The second inning is where the fire power started. With six runs from the offense coming behind a two RBI double off the bat of junior centerfielder Jazmine Hill and a monster three-run home run from freshman first baseman Cydney Sanders the Sun Devils would keep the momentum rolling into the next two innings where they would combine to score six runs.
When asking head coach Trisha Ford about Sanders’ homerun and offensive prowess, she replied, “She’s a different breed. I love her. She is a pure hitter. I think she is going to be very special.”
The offense wasn’t the only sparkle for the first game of the double header, as sophomore two-way player Marissa Schuld pitched an absolute master class of a game. She would go five innings pitched with eight strikeouts while only allowing two hits and RBIs, both coming off solo home runs in the top of the fifth.
“I thought Marissa pitched a gem. I just think she’s a bulldog out there. She’s played in some very big games. She’s a freshman here (at Arizona State), but not really a freshman. She just competes,” Ford said.
Even while being able to beat Illinois State in a blow-out fashion, Schuld talked about how she is trying to improve as a pitcher as she gets more and more chances in the circle after having to red-shirt last season due to ineligibility after an in-conference transfer from Arizona.
“I think I did pretty good, but in the last inning you saw I gave up two home runs. I just go pitch-by-pitch.”
With a win under the belt of both Arizona State and Minnesota they face off to start the second game of this doubleheader.
ASU vs. Minnesota
The Golden Gophers, coming off a loss to the Sun Devils on Thursday were out to strike and strike fast against the Sun Devils’ sophomore pitcher Alison Royalty.
They did so by jumping on the score column first with an RBI single by sophomore right fielder Chloe Evans and then a solo home run by junior second baseman Sydney Strelow in the second to make it an early 2-0 lead.
Arizona State wouldn’t back down here and would go on to score four of their own runs in the bottom of the second behind a plethora of hits, one of those being an absolute bomb by senior second baseman Jazmyn Rollin.
Minnesota wouldn’t take too kindly to those four runs and would run Royalty out of the game for freshman pitcher Mac Morgan who would struggle going against a top-heavy Gophers roster going two innings allowing three runs on six hits.
After Morgan was taken out, junior pitcher Lindsay Lopez would come in and do her best to keep the Devils in play while being down in the score column. Lopez would pitch for three innings allowing two hits and one earned run with the one run being a solo home run by grad students first baseman Megan Dray in the top of the seventh.
“I thought Lindsay came in and did a hell of a job,” Ford said. “I thought the pitchers except for the beginning of this game have thrown very well.”
Arizona State’s offense would be held quiet from the second inning until the bottom of the sixth due to an impressive outing from Minnesota’s senior pitcher Autumn Pease.
Pease would post a stat line of seven innings pitched allowing five runs on eight hits in the victory over the Sun Devils, but still gave ASU many chances to come back and win.
Even with the Sun Devils lineup looking like they hadn’t done much in the scoring column, watching the game said otherwise. With multiple innings of runners in scoring position it looked as if the Devils would be able to get back into the game, but the elite defense of the Gophers would seem to put an end to the flame the Devils were looking to ignite.
“Our goal is to shrink the zone,” Ford said. “Make the pitcher feel like she doesn’t have a place to throw. I thought we had innings where we did a great job of that, then we had a couple looking strikeouts in some big situations.”
The one glimmer of life late in the game for ASU came with a pinch-hit solo home run from redshirt freshman Kristiana Watson in the bottom of the sixth. Junior infielder Jordyn VanHook and senior utility player Mailey McLemore then came in and got on base.
Even with using up all facets of the bench, the effort was still not enough for the Sun Devils to take it back and tie it up an inning later.
Ford explained how key the bench has been by saying, “We’re going to use everybody. It’s going to take all 19 of us. We have some big bats in the dugout, in the line-up and in reserve for us.”
Even with the tough loss to this Minnesota team, Ford knows how to keep her team focused and ready to grow from these experiences.
“This team always goes in with a clear mind. I don’t think there was any mentality change,” Schuld said.
“Coach Ford always preaches to us to say that we aren’t guaranteed a win, so we try our hardest,” sophomore outfielder Emily Cazares added.
Ford has faith in her young team and knows that even early into this season, they are all growing and learning at a rate that will make them a force to be reckoned with.
“Our goal today was to get good pitches to hit and clean up our defense, and I thought we did that, we just forgot the other part. We’ll bounce back. I know that” Ford explained on how the loss can be seen as a positive when it comes to the growth of her young team.
“We just got to put all three facets of the game together. We had a chance at the end of that game and that’s all that we can ask for.”
With one game remaining against UTEP tomorrow in the Littlewood Classic for Arizona State, the Sun Devils look to bounce back from a tough loss to try and bring their early season record to a solid 7-3 going into the University of Texas Tournament next week.
