(Photo: Elijah Longoria/WCSN)
TEMPE – For most of the year, Arizona State’s offense has resembled traits often left for superheroes: powerful, explosive, and unstoppable. The Sun Devils ranked sixth in the Big 12 offensively with a .328 team average and looked ready to dominate conference play after a sweep in the ASU invitational.
However, the weekend did not go as planned; Utah (20-5) took the No.21 Sun Devils’ (19-6) offensive ability and dominated with a sweep. Freshman designated player Mia Gomez set the tone with a leadoff home run against star graduate redshirt Kenzie Brown, and the Utes rode that to an 11-6 victory.
“Its a stick and ball sport,” head coach Megan Bartlett said. “Reality is that happens once in a while.”
Junior utility player Kayla Lyon hit a long double, which was followed by a two-run shot from Arizona native and freshman outfielder Payton Crank, both coming with runners on base.
The Utes were putting a ton of pressure on the Sun Devils’ defense, which ranks ninth in the conference. A bunt from junior shortstop Shonty Passi caused a throwing error by senior pitcher Aissa Silva, allowing another run to cross the plate.
This was the start of very fundamental softball by the women in the red and white. Crank and senior infielder Hailee White both hit RBI singles, again putting the bat on the ball when needed. The Utes hit .417 with runners in scoring position throughout the contest, making it look easy in the box.
ASU’s pitching staff struggled to find the zone; a lack of command combined with defensive miscues allowed the Utes to capitalize. With runners on third and less than 2 outs, Utah went a perfect six for six in its at-bats.
Brown struggled, issuing three walks, a wild pitch, and a hit by pitch in one inning of work. Her final line was not pretty, with four hits and seven earned runs allowed.
“She just wasn’t very sharp,” Bartlett said. “Shes a warrior, so she’ll be okay.”
Silva took over in the circle but was also getting hit very hard. Where it was a fly ball, line drive or bunt, everything was falling for Utah.
“Welcome to softball,” Bartlett said. “When it rains, it pours.
The Sun Devils threw more strikes than the opposing pitching staff, but also had 14 more balls miss the zone.
ASU’s offense didn’t go quite; it had nine hits and was barreling consistently when it made contact. Redshirt senior outfielder Kaylee Pond and junior infielder Katie Chester both homered, swinging some energy back into the Sun Devils dugout.
Pond had a big day, going three-for-three with two extra-base hits at the dish.
“I thought she did a tremendous job in the leadoff spot,” Bartlett said.
Junior catcher Samantha Swan joined the party with a solo big fly to left field. Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough for ASU to claw back, and its inability to bring in runners proved costly. The story of the day, when sophomore infielder Tiare Ho-Ching hit a laser to the shortstop Passi but was sent back to the dugout after a superman-style catch in the six hole.
“Its not easy to hit when you’re chasing big leads like that,” Bartlett said.
