(Photo: Marlee Smith/WCSN)
No. 15 Arizona State (22-7) won its first non-invitational game of the year against South Dakota State.
Consistency, effort and plate discipline are three virtues that have plagued the team. As ASU prepares to travel to the number one team in the country over the weekend, the Sun Devils needed to make sure they can iron out the struggles before starting up again.
Once again, the offense was stellar at the start of the game. A two-run homer from Maddi Hackbarth was sandwiched between runs from Kindra Hackbarth and a home run from Alynah Torres. Four runs were scored off of five hits.
The offense stalled for the next four innings. Luckily, Cielo Meza was dominant and kept the shutout alive. Posting an ERA of 1.98 and six strikeouts, she pitched the entire game and was steady all throughout.
With a four-run lead heading into the sixth inning, Kindra Hackbarth hit a sac fly up to give pinch runner Olivia Miller the score to push the lead to five. This final score for the Sun Devils gave ASU a healthy cushion heading into the top of the seventh where they could end the game.
In the seventh, Cielo Meza retired the first three batters including a strikeout of the first batter, Lauren Wobken. Next to step into the plate was Kiersin Denning who smacked the ball high to center field where it was caught by Kindra Hackbarth. The last out came off the bat of Jordyn Pender who hit a fly to left field for the last out of the game.
The Sun Devils will now enter Pac-12 play with a 22-7 record and ranked at No. 15. The first game against UCLA will be on Friday, March 13th.
