Kenzie Brown leads the way in Sun Devils 6-1 win over Kansas

(Photo credit: Madison Sorenson/WCSN)

TEMPE — By the time the fifth inning reached around, senior right-handed pitcher Kenzie Brown had been dealing against the Kansas Jayhawks’ hitters all night. Brown faced off against junior infielder Hailey Cripe with two out in the fifth. Brown fell behind 3-1 but battled back to strike out Cripe, her twelfth of the night and 300th of her career.

Brown finished the night with 16 total strikeouts and was the leading force behind the Arizona State softball team’s (25-13, 7-6 Big 12 Conference) 6-1 win over Kansas (16-16, 3-7 Big 12) in game one of the weekend series.

“It just shows how much work I’ve put in to get a lot better,” Brown said. “I think that the majority of my strikeouts have come from this year, which is really special.”

Brown’s performance in the circle was special in its own right. Her 16 strikeouts are the second-highest total for her on the season, following a performance against BYU where she tallied 18.

“To point out any one thing Kenzie does well is really tough,” head coach Megan Bartlett said. “She’s tough mentally. She’s tough physically. So once (pitching coach Jeremy Manley) is calling pitches, we just sit back and watch the show with her.”

Brown’s show opened with a couple of bumps on the road. A run was given up in the first inning, and in the second, Brown got herself into a bases-loaded jam after a couple of walks. However, as quickly as Brown got into the jam, she got herself out of it.

A strikeout closed the second inning, and Brown only allowed three more base hits. She found herself behind in multiple counts early on but again battled back to record strikeouts.

Brown also credited her maturity for her ability to get out of difficult situations. As for Bartlett, she explained her confidence in the right-hander and the logic behind Manley’s visits in the circle.

“Manley is only going to go out there if she looks a little bit off time and off rhythm,” Bartlett said.

After going down one in the opening frame, ASU scored three runs via four base hits and a walk. The offense provided Brown with early run support, something the Sun Devils lacked versus Oklahoma State on Wednesday night.

“It’s a huge weight lifted off the shoulder,” Brown said. “I can attack the zone and don’t have to worry about throwing it down the middle, because, at the end of the day, they still have to hit and put up six against me.”

Freshman outfielder Ashleigh Mejia homered in the second inning, putting three more runs on the scoreboard for her team. ASU needed a big offensive performance after it only got four hits and was shut out by Oklahoma State.

“Trusting in our team and loving our team outside of softball is something that we focused on after Oklahoma State,” Mejia said. “Telling each other we appreciate them and stuff, some things are bigger than softball.”

However, a pitching change by Kansas silenced the early offensive roar from the hosts. The Sun Devils got after senior right-hander Katie Brooks, who gave up seven hits and all six earned runs. She was replaced by junior right-handed pitcher Lizzy Ludwig following Mejia’s homer.

Ludwig only allowed five baserunners off three hits and two walks, not allowing a run in 4.2 innings. Ludwig threw more changeups compared to Brooks, which ASU couldn’t quite adjust to.

“That many changeups will grind the pace of the game to a halt,” Bartlett said. “We just had a long talk about it, ‘Girls, guess what you’re going to see for the rest of the weekend?’”

The Sun Devils have two more matchups against Kansas, with only three more series following in conference play. With that little time remaining, a series win, or even a series sweep, could help ASU climb upward from sixth in the Big 12.

“The Big 12 is a great softball conference, always has been,” Bartlett said. “We’re trying to keep tabs a little bit, but we’re not really looking much farther past the next game.”