(Photo: Marlee Smith/WCSN)
One of the hallmarks of a good team is having the ability to win in different ways and with different players.
No. 13 ASU showcased that ability on Sunday, as they completed the conference sweep of No.8 Arizona with a 4-3 eight inning win at Farrington Stadium in Tempe. The familiar combination of sophomore Jazmine Hill and senior Maddi Hackbarth delivered the walk off in the eighth, as Hackbarth doubled down the line allowing hill to race home all the way from first. The walkoff win moves the Sun Devils to 28-11, and the sweep will certainly advance them in the national rankings.
“This weekend was fantastic, for me I’m just so proud and happy for our team,” Ford said. “Denae had a tremendous game, Allison and Lindsay were great, and a game like this where it comes from everyone really makes a coach proud.”
The hero of innings 1-7 was senior Denae Chatman. She belted two home runs, driving in three Sun Devil runs and providing just enough run support for the reliable tandem of freshman and sophomore hurlers Allison Royalty and Lindsay Lopez. Chatman’s solo shot in the fourth gave ASU a lead they held until the seventh. The blasts were chatman’s 6th and 7th of the year.
“Because I’ve been struggling, I just decided I was going to swing hard and see what happened,” Chatman said. “It’s amazing to sweep this team, we put all of our energy towards each other and it was an amazing team win.”
Sun Devil starter Allison Royalty was dominant in the early innings as she has been all year, but showed her mortality in the top of the fourth. After cruising through the Arizona lineup her first time through, the freshman issued a one out walk before surrendering a two run game tying blast to deep left field off the bat of Arizona’s Malia Martinez.
Ford was quick to replace Royalty with sophomore Lindsay Lopez in the same inning. The one two punch of royalty and Lopez, or vice versa, is becoming the bread and butter for an ASU team with just three pitchers on the active roster.
“It’s really great to be able to work with Lindsay, and knowing she has my back,” Royalty said. “This being my freshman year and my first rivalry series it was awesome to get these three starts. I knew my team had my back, and I was able to mix my stuff up and be confident.”
Lopez was able to silence the Wildcat bats, continuing her success of late into the seventh, where a two out rally from Arizona tied the game. Down to their last strike with the tying run on second, all-American catcher Deja Mulipola laced a game tying double into the right field corner.
“I knew I was going back out for the 8th if there was one,” Lopez said. “I stuck to my routine, gathered myself at the end of the bench and knew I had to go out there and get a shutdown inning.”
That’s exactly what she did, putting up a zero in the top of the eighth, setting ASU up for Hackbarth’s heroics in the home half.
“We’ve competed against them but havent really gotten the wins in the past,” Hackbarth said. “It’s huge for us and Coach Ford because she works her butt off for us. I’m just so happy right now, really pleased with our team.”
As the season hits the home stretch, a question mark looms large over next weekend, what is scheduled to be a weekend series in Berkeley against Cal. Because of covid issues, the Bears didn’t play this weekend. This puts next weekend’s series with ASU in jeopardy as well.
“I’m not sure what’s going to happen there,” Ford said. “I can tell you if we don’t play Cal, we won’t scramble to schedule anyone. We’d probably just stay here and practice and rest up.”
For now, ASU can enjoy a job well done against their in-state rivals. With series wins against Washington and now Arizona, the Sun Devils have shown that they are a team that is in the top tier of the nation’s most loaded conference.
“I don’t pay much attention to rankings but I definitely think we’re a top 10 team,” Hackbarth said. “We’re never out of a game and we can compete with anybody. I’m proud of our resilience and heart, and we’re playing hungry. I’m happy with the way we battled this weekend.”
