(Photo: Marlee Smith/WCSN)
The Arizona State Sun Devils split the first two games of their 2019 season on Friday night in Tempe, defeating Western Michigan 8-4, then falling to Missouri 8-0.
In the first game of the night against Western Michigan, the trio of junior outfielder Kindra Hackbarth, senior outfielder Morgan Howe, and sophomore first baseman DeNae Chatman helped propel the ASU comeback against the Broncos
Samantha Mejia, a junior transfer from Fresno State, started in the circle for ASU. Mejia made quick work of the first six batters she faced through the first two innings, but the Broncos’ bats caught on to the right-hander’s fastball in the third, scoring four runs in three consecutive at-bats.
The Sun Devils countered in the bottom of the third with a leadoff double from Hackbarth, who would move to third before scoring on Howe’s double directly afterward. A sac fly from junior shortstop Jade Gortarez scored Howe, putting the score at 4-3 in favor of WMU.
In the bottom of the fourth, Hackbarth doubled again, scoring sophomore second baseman, Bella Loomis, to equalize. Chatman regained the lead for the Sun Devils in the bottom of the fifth on a towering solo home run that easily cleared the center field wall.
Howe sealed the game in the bottom of the sixth inning with a three-run homer over the left field fence, putting ASU up 8-4. Howe finished the first stint of the doubleheader 2-4 with four RBI and a home run.
“It’s nice having (Howe) behind me because I know if I don’t hold my end, she has my back behind me. She’s just an incredible player,” Hackbarth said.
Following a short break, Arizona State took the field to face the Missouri Tigers, this time with redshirt junior transfer Cielo Meza in the circle.
Meza struck out the first batter she faced but then hit the next batter, allowed a single, then walked the bases loaded. With two outs, true freshman Geana Torres took Meza deep to right center field for a grand slam, giving Mizzou a 4-0 lead.
Meza’s pitching woes continued in the third inning, giving up a leadoff walk, then dealing another after two pop outs. Sophomore outfielder Callie Martin sent a fastball from Meza over the left field wall for a three-run dinger to put Mizzou up seven. They would add one more run off of Meza in the top of the fourth on a sac fly to score sophomore outfielder Delaney McDannold.
“I think that we didn’t execute pitches in those situations,” ASU head coach Trisha Ford said. “Mizzou is a good team and they will take advantage of (missed pitches). It’s day one, it’s a long season, and we are all trying to figure out our pace and our rhythm. There was a lot of good stuff and also things that need a lot of improvement.”
Just like the chilly temperatures at Farrington Stadium, ASU’s bats cooled off as the night dragged along. Four different Sun Devils each produced a single hit off of Mizzou’s sophomore pitcher Cassie Gasper. ASU also stranded five runners on base throughout the five-inning contest which resulted in an 8-0 mercy-rule victory for the Tigers.
Looking forward for ASU, they have another doubleheader matchup in the second day of the Kajikawa Classic, facing off against Kansas at 2:30 p.m. MST and then Weber State at 7:30 p.m. MST.
