(Photo: Troy Tauscher/WCSN)
Following a 4-0 win on March 11, G Juarez, who had just held Minnesota to one hit in a complete game shutout, was asked about her expectations heading into a matchup against No. 1 ranked and undefeated Washington 2-0.
“Beat em, the game goes both ways you never know what’s going to happen,” Juarez said. “The biggest thing is having confidence in ourselves and worrying about us and not rankings, stats, or anything just worrying about us and what we’re doing and our plan.”
Fast forward just under one week in front of a packed house on opening night of Pac-12 play and the Arizona State Softball team did just that as they gave the Washington Huskies their first lost of their season.
Entering the game, Washington was on their best start and winning streak in school history as they started 27-0 on the year. The Huskies came into the game leading the NCAA in home runs at 39 while only trailing for a total of three innings on the year.
While ASU faced an uphill battle on paper, it was Washington came out with nerves as freshman pitcher Gabbie Plain walked Kindra Hackbarth and Jade Gortarez to begin the bottom of the first.
The freshman received some help from her defense as Morgan Howe’s single led to an out as Hackbarth attempted to score on the play before getting thrown out from center field as she hesitated on the soft hit.
“I think it was a tough play, she had to kind of freeze a little bit because she didn’t know if that ball was going to get caught and I’m always going to push,” ASU head coach Trisha Ford said. “It takes a perfect throw and it was a bang-bang play.”
Following the play at the plate, it was freshman Nicole Chilson who nearly put a ball out of the park with a deep fly ball that was caught and advanced Gortarez to third. Following the catch, it was a wild pitch that allowed Howe to put runners on second and third with two outs.
The Sun Devils would not leave the first inning empty-handed as freshman Danielle Gibson nearly hit her ninth home run of the year with a double that hit the top of the wall and bounced on to the warning track.
“Probably another inch or so,” Chilson said. “I was a little early, just got to score the runs. It feels great, we had nothing to lose.”
Juarez took the circle in the top of the second and struggled slightly allowing two walks in the inning but got out of the jam. The sophomore southpaw dominated the rest of the way as she finished with 11 strikeouts including striking out the side in the fourth.
“It gave me a ton of confidence, to put up two runs in the first inning off Washington,” Juarez said. “We were ready, we were fired up and ready to go after we did that.”
The Huskies wouldn’t go down without a fight as they threatened with a two-out single in the fifth. The single was followed up by another single, but Kindra Hackbarth was able to avenge getting throw out earlier in the game with an outfield assist getting the runner at third to end the inning.
ASU benefited greatly from the play as it shifted the momentum in their favor in the late stages of the game.
“It was even for both teams when she made that throw it shifted right back on our side,” Juarez said. “It’s a huge play for our game and I was pumped after that.”
The Sun Devils finished out the game in front of a packed house at Farrington Stadium as Juarez picked up her 11th and final strikeout in the seventh inning for the second out. The game ended on a pop up to Gortarez at short leading to a team celebration of the 2-0 win.
“Right before the pitch was thrown, I had a great feeling that ball was coming to me,” Gortarez said. “I wanted G to get that strikeout at the end just to finish her entire game.”
ASU will finish their three-game set against Washington with games Sunday, and Monday to finish out their opening weekend of Pac-12 play.
