Sun Devils drop series opener against No. 8 Arizona

(Photo credit: Madison Sorenson/WCSN)

TEMPE — With a packed crowd in attendance at Farrington Stadium on Friday, freshman outfielder Ashleigh Mejia raised the fans to their feet through one swing of the bat. Trailing 6-0, Mejia’s solo home run lit a spark of hope among the ASU faithful, as they craved a win over its Territorial Cup rivals.

Ultimately, Mejia’s home run was too little too late for No. 23 Arizona State (22-9, 4-3 Big 12 Conference) to make a comeback against the No. 8 Arizona Wildcats (28-4, 5-2 Big 12), falling 6-1 Friday night.

“I don’t know if we’ve had a crowd like that in a while,” junior outfielder Tanya Windle said. “[We] felt at home and ready to go.”

Despite the vibrant crowd, the Sun Devils’ offense struggled initially to get runners aboard, as it only had five base hits and didn’t draw a single walk. Windle led the offensive efforts, with three base hits, including a sixth-inning triple that stoked Mejia’s initial spark in the fanbase.

ASU struggled against Arizona graduate right-hander Miranda Stoddard, who produced a lot of weak content through 5.2 innings of one-run ball. Stoddard only struck out one batter and got the majority of outs through groundballs, including two consecutive frames where all three batters grounded out.

“It took us a little too long to adjust,” ASU head coach Megan Bartlett said. “They have to be really mindful about their barrel adjustment through the zone.”

By the time ASU adjusted in the batter’s box, it found itself in a five-run hole, and Stoddard was taken out of the game. Redshirt senior right-hander Devyn Netz came to extinguish the flame lit by Mejia and Windle and did so by not allowing a baserunner. Against four Sun Devils, Netz retired all them and recorded a four-pitch seventh inning to close the game.

On the other side, ASU’s pitching staff struggled against the top half of Arizona’s order. All eight hits for the Wildcats came from the first five batters of the lineup, as they caught lightning in a bottle to score their six runs. The first bolt was seen in the third inning, where a catcher’s interference call on sophomore catcher Samantha Swan put two runners on for junior catcher Sydney Stewart.

Stewart sent a ball well over the center-field wall for Arizona’s first three runs. Senior right-handed pitcher Kenzie Brown gave up those three and another in the fourth which, after giving up a walk, followed by two wild pitches, led to sophomore outfielder Zaedi Tagalog scoring off a sacrifice fly.

“Kenzie made one mistake to a very good hitter, but I really thought she did a nice job,” Bartlett said. “She continued to do Kenzie things, and if we would have left her in, she would have continued to cruise.”

Sophomore right-hander Meika Lauppe replaced Brown after Tagalog scored, then notched a scoreless inning, before freshman right-hander Julianne Tipton came in. Tipton was initially solid, getting four outs against her first five batters faced, but a two-out walk in the sixth inning opened the door for Arizona to add to its lead. Three consecutive singles walked through the door and scored two runs for the Wildcats, sealing the win in game one of this Territorial Cup series.

Ultimately, the Sun Devils stayed in the game with one of the country’s top-10 teams, but felt the consequences of a few difficult moments. With similar crowds expected throughout the rest of the weekend, ASU looks to feed off the energy of the home fanbase.

The Sun Devils will have a chance for revenge Saturday evening, before the series finale Sunday afternoon.

“They need to punch back, that’s been the MO of this team the whole year,” Bartlett said. “If they get knocked down, they don’t stay down long. They’re going to continue battle back.”