(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)
The No. 8 Arizona State softball team played North Dakota State and Brigham Young Saturday afternoon after beating both teams Friday and the offense came out strong and often over the two games.
Marisa Stankiewicz hit her fourth home run of the season to help the Sun Devils earn their 9-1 victory against NDSU in only five innings. But Stankiewicz wasn’t done as she hit two more homers against BYU.
Stankiewicz and the offense didn’t die down against the Cougars as they notched their second win of the day and fourth on the weekend by a score of 10-3.
ASU vs. North Dakota State- 5 innings
After pitching a no-hitter Friday night against BYU, Giselle “G” Juarez came out Saturday afternoon to take on NDSU.
The game started off slow offensively for both teams, as ASU could not score through the first two and Juarez had seven strikeouts in just three.
NDSU starter Jacquelyn Sertic struggled in the third inning as ASU crossed home plate six times to take a 6-0 lead against the Bison.
Taylor Becerra started off the inning with a single, then Kindra Hackbarth singled down the third base line to advance Becerra to second base. The two attempted a double steal, but a throwing error from NDSU catcher Tabby Heinz plated Becerra and advanced Hackbarth to third.
“Base running is going to win or lose us ballgames and so we have been practicing that the last two weeks, it’s going to come, and we are going to need it at some point,” head coach Trisha Ford said. “For me, it was to put pressure and see if there’s going to be a defensive breakdown.”
Jade Gortarez then singled to center field as Hackbarth touched home plate to make the game 2-0.
Morgan Howe continued the single parade with one to left field, which was followed up by a Danielle Gibson double that brought Gortarez home to tally the third run on the day.
Still with no outs, Stankiewicz had a chance to continue the dominance of the Sun Devil offense and did just that, driving a 2-2 pitch over the center field fence to double the lead and make it 6-0.
Sertic let the Devils bat around, as ASU sent 10 hitters to the plate in the inning, tallying seven hits.
The Bison offense was quite during the fourth inning, but the Sun Devils added onto the score in the inning. Stankiewicz hit a double down the third base line with two runners on that scoring Howe for her fourth RBI of the game, but led to Gibson being tagged out at third to end the inning.
“I was definitely seeing the ball really well today,” said Stankiewicz. “I was feeling pretty good from the get-go.”
In the top of the fifth, NDSU finally broke through as Vanessa Anderson led off with a home run to right field that make the score 7-1 and ended Juarez’s streak of 79 innings without allowing an earned run.
Gortarez would end the game in the bottom half with a double down the third base line that brought in in Becerra and Hackbarth for a final of 9-1.
ASU vs. BYU
Alyssa Loza received the start for the Sun Devils and gave up a run early on, as a sacrifice fly from Libby Sugg brought in in Rylee Jenson to give the Cougars an early 1-0 lead, their only one of the game.
ASU didn’t score until the second inning when BYU pitcher Kerisa Viramontes walked three Sun Devils in a row with two outs to bring Hackbarth to the plate. The right fielder turned on an 0-1 pitch and sent it beyond the fence in right-center field for a grand slam and her first collegiate career home run.
“It felt really good, honestly I was like my luck she’s going to catch the ball,” Hackbarth said. “I was all happy, running around the bases so fast, coach was there, it was just an amazing feeling.”
“She is a triple threat, when we recruited her I told her she was going to bunt, slap and hit,” said Ford. “Obviously, we have concentrated a lot on her short game and probably the last couple weeks we have kind of got her swinging a little bit.”
With the 4-1 lead after two, Dale Ryndak relieved Loza in the circle, but quickly gave up a home run to the second batter she faced, Briielle Breland, to cut the score in half.
The Cougars used four pitchers throughout the game with Arianna Paulson, who started against ASU Friday night, taking Viramontes’ position in the circle to start the bottom of the third.
Both Stankiewicz and Nichole Chilson walked before Bella Loomis came up to bat and drove the ball to the ball to the left field wall, earning herself a double and bringing the two runners home.
Looking at a 6-1 deficit, BYU brought in Autumn Moffat to finish off the inning. Moffat walked Maddi Hackbarth, but was able to get out of the inning otherwise unscathed.
Ryndak retired the Cougars 1-2-3 on eight pitches in the fourth to give ASU a chance to add on even more insurance. The Devils did just that as Gortarez led off with a single and then came around to score on a double from Howe to stretch the score to 7-2.
Stankiewicz then blasted her second home run on the day and first of the game deep beyond the center field fence, scoring Howe and pushing the Sun Devil lead to 9-2.
A wild pitch from Ryndak added on a run in the fifth for BYU, but the Cougars could not muster any more offense, as the rest of the game was maroon and gold.
Stankiewicz hit her second home run of the game in the sixth and Breanna Macha pitched two scoreless innings to end the afternoon and secure a 10-3 victory.
“Just a lot of reps during the week, we work on a lot of drills that enable me to get off my backside and use my lower half and I think that preparation up until this weekend was vital,” Stankiewicz said.
Besides Stankiwicz’s three home runs in the doubleheader, she also had seven RBIs.
“Obviously Stank is seeing beach balls up there, she’s doing a really good job, a fifth-year senior starting to find her rhythm and it’s fantastic,” Ford said. “I’m happy for her, that kid works her butt off.”
With a successful weekend, ASU will return to Pac-12 play by traveling to Corvallis to take on Oregon State next weekend.
