Categories: Arizona StateArticleSoftballTicker

Home run parade leads Arizona State to double-header sweep

(Photo:Scotty Bara)

Behind two great performances from pitchers Dallas Escobedo and Mackenzie Popescue and multiple home runs from unlikely players, the Arizona State softball team picked up two more victories on Saturday night.

A five-run 3rd inning provided more than enough runs for starting pitcher Mackenzie Popescue as the Sun Devils defeated Idaho State, 11-1 in five innings.

ASU opened up the scoring in the bottom of the 1st when Bethany Kemp singled in Amber Freeman. Haley Steele would score on the next play after a Bengal error gave the Sun Devils a 2-0 lead. Alix Johnson homered for the second straight day in the bottom of the 3rd, taking Haley Douglas deep to center to extend the lead to 3-0. Four batters later, Jennifer Soria hit her first home run of the season, a three-run shot over the center field wall. Katie Aguirre then gave the Sun Devils their third home run of the inning, and after three innings, ASU led 7-0.

“Our bats came alive in the 3rd inning,” said Johnson. “Hitting is contagious. Especially home runs like that (referring to the three home runs in the 3rd inning). We have great hitters on our team.”

Haley Steele hit a three-run home run to left in the bottom of the 4th to give the Sun Devils a 10-0 lead. She finished the night 2-for-2 with three runs scored and three runs batted in. Soria would give the Sun Devils their fifth home run of the night and her second of the game to push the lead to 11 runs. Her five runs batted in matched her season total from last year.

“It was definitely unexpected, I was really surprised,” Soria said when asked about her home runs. “ I just relaxed and trust my process.”

Starting pitcher Mackenzie Popescue struggled early on but was able to get out of two jams and picked up her seventh victory of the season. She lowered her ERA on the season to 0.53 in her four innings of work. Jenna Makis came in to pitch the 5th inning and allowed the only run of the night.

***

Runs were scarce in the first game but fortunately for the Sun Devils, they had Dallas Escobedo on the mound as ASU defeated Boston College, 3-0.

The Sun Devils got on the board first in the bottom of the 2nd with an RBI single by Nikki Girard and a sacrifice fly by Cheyenne Coyle. Two errors by the Eagles played a huge role in the scoring as the Sun Devils led 2-0 after two innings. Elizabeth Caporuscio added to lead with her first home run of the season in the 5th inning.

Escobedo did a great job of getting out of jams all night. In the 5th inning, she had two runners on and no outs and got out of the inning unscathed. She entered the night leading the Pac-12 in strikeouts with 65 on the season and added to her total with 12 in seven strong innings. Escobedo also lowered her ERA to 0.47 on the season.

“The key for a good pitcher when they get in trouble, is to make pitches to get out of trouble,” coach Craig Nicholson said. “They (Escobedo and Popescue) did that tonight. I thought our defense did a great job of keeping them off of the scoreboard.”

The Sun Devils host Drake at 11:15 and Idaho State at 1:30 on Sunday as they look to stay undefeated.

You can reach Julian Lopez on Twitter @juliansdayoff22 or via email at jlopez27@asu.edu