(Photo via Zina Garcia/WCSN)
TEMPE — In sports, having a short-term memory is a necessity. That gets taken to the next level when playing in a tournament like the Kajikawa Classic, which the Arizona State softball team is currently taking part in.
The Saturday schedule of the classic saw the Sun Devils take on the Boise State Broncos, immediately followed by a game against the Maine Black Bears. For the Sun Devils, the challenge of the back-to-back was as much of a mental one as a physical one, if not more.
The Sun Devils started their game against Boise State hot, but the heat quickly faltered.
Normally, bringing four runs across the plate in only a third of an inning means good things for an offense, but that wasn’t the case for the Sun Devils against the Broncos.
When senior pitcher Jenna Bloom started the game in the circle for the Broncos, she was trying to shake off a performance from earlier in the day against Wisconsin, where she gave up six earned runs in just 3.2 innings pitched in what ended up being a 9-0 loss for Boise State.
Unfortunately for Bloom, she couldn’t break out of her funk. She was credited with giving up four runs after getting hit all over the field and only recording one out. When she left the game, she was replaced by senior Taylor Caudill, and the momentum of the entire game changed.
After Caudill entered the game, the Sun Devils could only muster up three baserunners, a stark contrast from the six who reached base before the second out of the game was even recorded.
We didn’t make an adjustment,” said assistant coach Hailey Decker.
Caudill finished the game with 6.2 innings pitched and seven strikeouts, having her way with the Arizona State offense as her own offense clawed back.
In the top of the fourth inning, the Broncos made their breakthrough. With pinch-runner freshman Keely Goushá on second base, sophomore Hollie Farmer hit a ground ball to the usually sure-handed senior infielder Kayla Lissy, who couldn’t snag it at third base. The error allowed Goushá to come around and score, and the pendulum never swung back Arizona State’s way.
It was an error that gave the Broncos the lead, but they got back into the game in the first place thanks to the long ball.
Senior Ashlyn Whalen put the Broncos on the board in the top of the second, responding to ASU’s four spot with a solo home run to left-center field. An inning later, it was the sophomore duo of Farmer – with a two-run home run – and Sydney Groves – with her solo shot – in back-to-back at-bats to tie the game up at four apiece.
The Broncos finished up their scoring in the seventh when Groves hit another home run to bring the final score to 6-4.
The Sun Devils were simply unable to fight back against the Broncos, but although their first game ended on a low note, that downward momentum did not continue into Arizona State’s second game of the night against Maine, as the Sun Devils came out looking revived.
The game was almost an inverse of the first in some ways. In the bottom of the third inning, two errors by the Sun Devils’ opponent cemented the outcome of the game.
Senior catcher Sara Kinch hit a little dribbler in front of the plate for a seemingly routine play, but the pressure was on, and Maine’s catcher and first baseman couldn’t connect on a throw, leading to the eighth Sun Devil run of the game crossing the plate.
Insurance was added in the next at-bat when graduate transfer outfielder Kelsey Hall reached on the second of the two previously mentioned errors, leading to a ninth run coming across to score for the Sun Devils.
Although the final two runs were added to the Sun Devils’ tally due to Maine’s errors, the game was marked by a genuine offensive showing from Arizona State, and the quick offensive turnaround is a testament to the team’s mental strength.
“Losing a heartbreaker like the first one, you just want to go in and flush it,” said sophomore utility player Shannon Cunningham.
It was Cunningham who lit the spark for the offense in game two. Her two-run home run in the second awakened the Sun Devils, and her RBI single up the middle in the third started the seven-run rally that ended up deciding the game.
The insurance that the seventh run of that rally, the ninth Sun Devil run of the game, provided proved to be needed as the Black Bears managed to get a run to score on a passed ball in the top of the fifth.
That was all Maine could muster, though. When senior right-handed pitcher Mac Osborne struck out the Black Bears pinch hitter, sophomore Maggie Helms, to get her 10th strikeout of the game and end the half inning, the score was still 9-1, giving the Sun Devils a commanding victory.
“It’s a mentality piece,” Cunningham said. “I mean, you want to compete. You want to win. You want to help your teammates win, and it was just kind of the mentality of like, ‘You know what, I don’t want to let them beat me. I want to do my job, help my teammates out, and even if I don’t do my job, help my teammates do their job.’”
