(Photo: Janae Bradford/WCSN)
With only one Maroon and Gold game left for Arizona State Softball’s fall season, the team has a lot to look forward to heading into the spring season, after winning three of its four games against in-state opponents. ASU dropped a game to the Grand Canyon Lopes on Oct. 5th, but the Sun Devils got their revenge on Wednesday, defeating the Lopes at Farrington Softball Stadium 5-2.
“I’m looking forward to the next time we play GCU,” head coach Megan Bartlett said after losing to GCU on Oct. 5th.
After a slow start from both teams in the first two innings, the Sun Devils finally put runs on the board thanks to a one-run homer from the graduate outfielder Yannira Acuña in the bottom of the third to give her team a 1-0 lead.
Bartlett is a big believer in having a quality culture around a team, so after the home run ball from Acuña in the third inning, all the players came out of the dugout to greet her.
In the very next inning, graduate catcher Gianna Boccagno hit a single, setting up a runner on base for graduate infielder Halle Harger, who hit a two-run home run to left field, increasing the lead to 3-0.
In the bottom of the sixth, the senior outfielder Jazmine Hill homered, making it a 4-0 lead, but that wasn’t the only way ASU scored runs as freshman outfielder Kalyn McCarthy drove in junior infielder Savannah Price. The GCU pitcher threw multiple wild pitches, which helped McCarthy pick up an RBI. After the sixth inning, the Sun Devils led 5-0.
In the top of the seventh, the Lopes scored two runs, but that wouldn’t be enough to pull off a comeback in Tempe, as ASU won 5-2.
ASU’s pitching staff helped propel the program to victory as sophomore pitcher Kenzie Brown, junior pitcher Deborah Jones, graduate pitcher Marissa Schuld and junior pitcher Mac Osborne only allowed three hits the entire night.
“I have to be completely honest, we’ve got five really talented pitchers,” Bartlett explained about the pitching staff on Oct. 5th. “I can’t look into a crystal ball but they all do something a little different and they spin the ball really, really well.”
ASU’s game against GCU marked the final scrimmage against another opponent in the 2022 Fall season but will have one more Maroon and Gold scrimmage at 6 p.m. on Nov. 10.
