Sun Devil veterans spark rally, lead ASU to 16-1 victory

(Photo via Nicole Mullen/WCSN)

TEMPE — Arizona State softball continued its winning ways Friday night in a dominant 16-1 victory over the Embry-Riddle Eagles. The impressive win gives the Sun Devils a 2-0 start to their fall ball slate, adding on to their previous victory over Central Arizona 22-2 on Wednesday night.

The Sun Devils’ bats started off slow before breaking out for four runs in the third inning. The offense never let off the gas from that point forward and scored in every inning that followed.

Arizona State’s explosion in the third was highlighted by two home runs, the first coming from senior catcher Sara Kinch. Her home run led off the inning against Embry-Riddle relief pitcher Alexus Marquez, tying the game 1-1 and flipping the momentum back in favor of the Sun Devils, momentum that they would hold on to.

The second home run in the inning was hit by graduate infielder, and one of the stars of this ASU team, Jordyn VanHook, whose three-run shot drove in freshman infielder Libby Walsh, who was hit by a pitch, and graduate utility player Audrey LeClair, who worked her way on base with a walk.

But it was all thanks to Kinch that the rally started.

“[Kinch] certainly settled the offense down,” Head coach Megan Bartlett said after the game. “We got out of that first inning pretty quick, and I think everyone went onto their heels. … Sara just came in and kind of did her thing.”

Kinch and VanHook continued to play key roles offensively after the third, with both of them smacking one more home run each. Together, the pair drove in a total of eight runs with four long balls.

While VanHook is a known power hitter – she led the Pac-12 in home runs last season with 19 – Kinch, on the other hand, only hit one all of last season.

“That’s the funny thing about home runs,” Bartlett said. “When you stop trying to hit them, they show up.”

While the batting lineup might have needed some time to get going, Arizona State’s pitching was superb from start to finish. The Sun Devils only gave up one run, six hits and no walks throughout the 10 innings played.

Arizona State’s starter, sophomore righty Kylee Magee, hit one batter and gave up two hits and the Eagles’ lone run, but through four innings, she earned 10 of her 12 outs via strikeout. With help from pitching coach Jeremy Manley, Magee noted that locating her pitches is going to be the point of focus going forward.

“We kind of changed a few things up from last year, so I have been getting a little bit more strikeouts,” Magee said. “I’m going to be working on (my new delivery) every single day this fall. I feel it’s very different from the way I’m used to pitching, so I just got to get it ready for the season.”

Junior right-handed pitcher Kenzie Brown came into the game in the fifth inning in relief of Magee and absolutely dominated the field. Brown got all but one out via the strikeout during her three innings of work. Her only non-strikeout out was a forced groundout to third base.

The fifth inning was also the Sun Devils’ highest-scoring inning outside of the third. The Sun Devils scored three runs, in part due to aggressive base running. On a throwing error from shortstop to first base graduate outfielder Kelsey Hall followed VanHook home to score all the way from first base. Hall’s aggressive base running forced another errant throw, which allowed her to score safely.

Sophomore outfielder Yannixa Acuña also showed aggressiveness when rounding third to score on a little league home run in the ninth that also scored Walsh, who was also one of three Sun Devils to steal a base.

“We talk a lot about being aggressive on the bases,” Bartlett said. “If we’re going to make an out, we’re going to make it at the next base, force people to make decisions. … We’re going to use [agressiveness] to our strength.”

Freshman right-hander Meika Lauppe took over from Brown in the eighth for her second fall ball appearance and only allowed one bloop single over her two innings of work. Senior righty Mac Osborne then closed out the game in the final inning.

From the bottom of the third to the final out, the Sun Devils put on a masterclass on both sides of the ball. They’ll face a hard challenger in GCU their next time out, but spirits are high after two dominant wins.

“I honestly feel really good [about the lineup],” Kinch said. “We have a lot of great hitters, and not just physically. We have a lot of … mentally good hitters, and that is a big part of this game. I think [the lineup] will be really good this year.”