Inconsistent offense and tired pitching leads ASU to its 11th straight loss

(Photo via Marina Williams/WCSN)

TEMPE – Arizona State entered the first game of their weekend set against California having scored 54% of their runs in the first three innings of action. That theme mostly continued, with the Sun Devils’ offense being hot early on before frustratingly spluttering out and being unable to support a tired pitching staff the rest of the way.

When graduate designated player Jordyn VanHook hit a two-RBI double to center field that made it a 7-3 game with two outs in the bottom of the fourth inning, everything seemed to be going ASU’s way.

Things can change quickly though. After the next batter, sophomore right fielder Tanya Windle, struck out, ASU not only gave up six runs to make it a 9-7 game in favor of California, but the Sun Devils failed to bring a runner across the plate for the rest of the night.

Arizona State (18-26, 2-17 Pac-12 Conference) would go on to drop their 11th game in a row as the team walked out of Farrington Stadium with an 11-7 loss to California (32-14, 6-11 Pac-12).

“I would love that,” head coach Megan Bartlett said in reference to the need for the offense to be more consistent. “That is easier said than done. … I don’t think anybody has been quite able to put their finger on it, even the kids. … I think we’re back to everybody’s trying to be perfect and everybody’s trying to do everything they can to help us win ballgames, but what that creates sometimes, I think at the plate, is you just get spinny. You start overthinking pitches and you make adjustments that are a little too big and you foul off a pitch you should’ve hit.”

If ASU kept its offensive performance consistent throughout the game the final score very well could have been different, but this has been a season-long issue for the Sun Devils, and an easy fix doesn’t seem to be there.

Still, despite the offense dying out later in the game, the team still scored seven runs. Two came on a pair of solo home runs in the third inning from graduate center fielder Kelsey Hall and Windle, her first in a Sun Devil uniform. The first three came in the second inning on two sacrifice flies and a wild pitch that led to a run coming across to score. The offense didn’t have a terrible night, they just needed to produce more in the latter inning to help out its depleted pitching staff, but those runs just never came.

That short-handed pitching staff is another not-so-easy fix for the Sun Devils. With several teammates on the injured list, a lot of the pressure and workload has been put on senior right-handed pitcher Deborah Jones, who might be overworked at this point in the season.

“Deborah, she just looked like she was out of gas after about the third inning tonight,” Bartlett said. “…She’s probably thrown as much innings as she’s thrown in her whole career. So some of that is, she’s a veteran, and she’s used to having kind of the weight of the world on her shoulders, but this is not mid-major. This is incredibly intense, and every pitch matters, and not only the talent level, but the amount of focus I think it requires to compete really well at this level, that emotionally takes it out of you too, so it’s just different. … DJ is incredible she’s given us everything she has, so certainly it’s hard to be frustrated with her.”

Jones’ final line doesn’t indicate just how good she was early on in the game, but pitching performances are looked at as a whole, and when she ran out of steam, things got ugly.

Jones allowed four straight hits, including a three-run home run, and a walk in the third inning before finally getting out of it. Her fourth inning seemed to be a bounce back, but the fifth was rough. Jones allowed four runs to score, including two off of a home run, and she was unable to get out of the frame.

“In a perfect world, (we would) give (Jones) a little bit of a break,” Bartlett said. Give her the rest of the weekend off, but that’s just sadly not the reality we’re in right now, so my girl’s going to have to toughen up for us.”

Jones was relieved by freshman right-hander Meika Lauppe who also couldn’t contain the Golden Bears offense. Lauppe allowed four earned runs in 2.2 innings pitched.

The pitching wasn’t strong Friday night, but the ASU defense didn’t help out its pitching like they normally do. ASU committed three errors on the night and even had plays that despite not being errors were plays that could have been made.

“If you’re gonna win games in the Pac, you better have a zero where that error column is,” Bartlett said. “…Defense has pretty much been a fairly consistent stronghold for us all year, and Cal is good right, they base-run aggressively. They have a ton of left-handed triple threats, and they execute well, and they’re going to force errors, and they’re going to force throws, and that is a big part of their offensive weaponry. Just too many costly mistakes tonight, frustrating.”

Frustrating is a word that can be used to describe most of the Sun Devils season, but the team is still fighting hard and keeping the right attitude.

“I don’t think anything worth value in life is accomplished without positivity,” Bartlett said. “…They have to believe they’re capable of winning, and we’re not going to walk into any of this defeated, but I think probably we’re back to hanging onto the small victories, celebrating what you do well in the moment, being there for each other. … They love each other, they’re not running from it, they show up every day, they grind, they watch the film, they work hard. … They’re sisters to each other, they’re trying to enjoy each other I think in the best way they can.”