(Photo credit: Sam Polgreen/WCSN)
TEMPE — Arizona State Softball found much-needed pitching success Thursday night against the No. 21-ranked Oregon Ducks who bested the Sun Devils in their previous matchup.
The Sun Devils and sophomore right-handed pitcher Meika Lauppe looked for revenge against their former Pac-12 rivals in Oregon and got it with a 4-3 walk-off win on Thursday night, handing the Ducks their first loss of this young season.
“I knew that we could totally beat them, and that’s what we did,” Lauppe said, “We went duck hunting.”
Lauppe viewed this game as revenge after what the Ducks did to her and the Sun Devils last year.
“Last year I got put in against Oregon,” Lauppe said. “We ended up losing the game, but I threw five innings, I gave up one home run, so I really wanted the Ducks tonight.”
Lauppe threw the last four innings of the game, not giving up a hit and striking out three Duck hitters. She came in especially clutch in the eighth inning after a runner advanced on a ground out. Lauppe got a strikeout and forced a flyout to end the inning.
The pitching staff as a whole had a great outing against the No. 21-ranked team in the country, which had not been held under eight runs scored until Thursday night.
Freshman right-hander Cambree Creager and senior right-hander Kenzie Brown combined with Lauppe to only give up four hits and three runs.
“Meika is such a hard worker and such a good person and such a good kid,” head coach Megan Bartlett said. “So just to see like, I have watched that kid work and grind so hard over the past two years, now to see her have this level of success, I’m just happy for it.”
After a rough outing against Miami (OH) in the Kajikawa Classic, Arizona State’s pitching has been on a tear, slowing down two ranked teams in a row: California and Oregon.
ASU pitching looks to continue its dominance as the Sun Devils take on North Dakota and Weber State on Friday as part of a doubleheader in the continuation of this year’s Littlewood Classic.
