ASU Softball: Sun Devils suffer first loss on Day 2 of Kajikawa Classic

In their third game in less than 24 hours, the Sun Devils took the field at Farrington Stadium in Tempe Friday afternoon and walked away with a 5-3 loss to the University of San Diego Toreros.

A seventh-inning comeback bid would fall short after the Sun Devils failed to keep pace with the Toreros, being held scoreless until the final frame.

In game one of two in the doubleheader, the Sun Devils sent junior Alexis Cooper to the circle to start against the Toreros (1-0). Cooper was perfect until the fourth inning, when she gave up a walk to senior third baseman Chloe Kaneko. Following that, however, the Devils turned a double play to end the inning with no damage done.

Arizona State had just three base runners and remained hitless until a leadoff single through the first-base hole by senior third baseman Haley Steele in the bottom of the fourth inning. The hit was to no avail though, as the next three batters went down consecutively to end the inning.

The first run of the game came from USD sophomore designated player Lauren King, who hit a solo opposite field home run to right field in the top of the fifth inning.

Two batters later, Toreros catcher Mary Grabowski rocketed a two-run homer over the left field wall to put San Diego up 3-0.

ASU freshman relief pitcher Dale Ryndak entered the game with no outs in the fifth and retired three batters in a row to end the inning. Ryndak remained in the game for the sixth and set down each of the three Toreros she faced.

In the seventh inning, however, freshman Kailey Hill hit a two-run shot to straight away center field against Ryndak that subsequently put the Toreros up 5-0.

The seventh inning was a productive one for Arizona State as senior first baseman Bethany Kemp put them on the scoreboard with a solo home run to left-center field, and later Steele drove in two runs with a single to right field to make the score 5-3.

In the end, though, the comeback proved to be too little and too late against San Diego.

ASU will look to bounce back and improve to 3-1 at Farrington Stadium tonight. First pitch is scheduled for 7:25 p.m. against the Rebels of Ole Miss. You can catch the live broadcast of the game here: www.pac-12.com/videos/arizona-state-university

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