(Photo: Marina Williams/WCSN)
TEMPE – After ending their 11 game losing streak in walk-off fashion Saturday, Arizona State softball entered Sunday looking to win their first series in conference play against California. Farrington was packed once again as they cheered on ASU in what could be the turnaround series the Sun Devils needto avoid a second straight losing season, something that has not happened in the program’s 57 year history.
However, the Golden Bears (33-15, 7-12 Pac-12) bounced back on Sunday and took the series with a 7-2 win over the Devils (19-27, 3-18 Pac-12) headlined by a six run third inning. Senior righty Deborah Jones had another performance where she struggled with her pitching location and control.
In 2 1/3 innings, Jones walked three batters and hit two more. In the third inning where the Golden Bears did most of their damage, they scored three runs off Jones with back-to-back home runs. After another batter reached on an error and a walk, Jones was pulled and graduate right Marissa Schuld came in. The first batter she faced took her yard for a three run homer, and the Devils were quickly down 6-0 heading in the bottom of the third.
“(Schuld) has got to come in and make pitches,” head coach Megan Bartlett said. “It’s a tough moment, adrenaline is up, but when you’re a sixth year you have to make pitches in those big moments.”
The Devils showed a little bit of fight in the bottom half of the inning after an RBI single from sophomore right fielder Tanya Windle scored a run, and graduate center fielder Kelsey Hall scored from third on a wild pitch to cut the Golden Bears lead to four.
An RBI double in the fifth inning from junior center fielder Mika Lee added an insurance run to the Golden Bears lead, and they never looked back. This game featured seven different batters who were hit by a pitch, and the Devils were victims to five of them.
“It’s just part of the game,” Bartlett said. “(California) was trying to own us on the inside, and when you don’t have a pinpoint command that’s gonna happen. The kids hung in there and we didn’t connect on many pitches, but they weren’t backing off for sure.”
The Devils mustered just four hits all day, and couldn’t find a groove. They had plenty of opportunities, even loading the bases twice in the third and fourth inning. California had a trio of pitchers that ASU couldn’t hit, and will try to bounce back next weekend at home against USC in the final Pac-12 regular season finale.
“They continue to do it all year and give us their best, but they just ran out of gas,” Bartlett said. “Those three months in the summer need to be spent wisely. As time goes on we’ll get healthy, but with such a short bench right now it’s hard.”
