Sun Devils stars shine bright in win over Kansas

(Photo credit: Nickolas Montei/WCSN)

The crowd at Farrington Stadium was still filing in the stands when Sun Devil freshman outfielder Ashleigh Mejia stepped into the box as the seventh batter of the game. While many were still in line at the concessions stand waiting to get their $1 hot dog, Mejia launched a no-doubter deep to right field. Had it not been for the net protecting the ASU beach volleyball courts, the ball would have landed over the secondary fence and out of the park.

The third base side of the stands erupted, and Mejia tacked on her 11th home run of the year, putting her in a four-way tie for third place in the Big 12 Conference in the category.

The Arizona State Sun Devils (26-14, 8-7 Big 12) took the series finale against the Kansas Jayhawks (17-17, 4-8 Big 12) with a 4-3 win on Sunday. The win was carried by the same Sun Devils who have been performing all season long.

Mejia wasn’t the only Sun Devil standout Sunday. In the bottom of the third, with Mejia on first base, Graduate outfielder Kelsey Hall sent a ball just over the maroon and gold Big 12 logo in left field. The two-run homer gave Hall her 40th and 41st RBIs on the year, tying her with Houston Cougars freshman pitcher/infielder Brooke Wells for fifth in the conference.

Hall has been a key piece of the ASU offense, leading the team in batting average, OPS, slugging and on-base percentage. She is also second on the team in hits and home runs.

“RBIs come from my teammates being on,” Hall said. “My teammates, obviously, continuing to do their job and just buying into the people behind them is huge.”

After an ACL tear at the end of last season, Hall hasn’t missed a step at the plate. Despite her injury, she has excelled in the batter’s box.

“I would say definitely when you only have to focus on one side of the ball, it makes your priorities straight, which is, obviously, a luxury you don’t wanna get,” Hall said. “I love hitting. … I really appreciate the coaching staff not forcing me to be ready for one side of the ball when my body just isn’t at that point.”

It is nearly impossible to talk about consistency and this ASU team without mentioning senior right-handed pitcher Kenzie Brown. Brown leads the four-pitcher rotation in wins, WHIP, innings pitched, earned runs and more.

“We could talk about Kenzie Brown all year, right?” Hall said. “This is kind of a trend with Kenzie. She’s just a workhorse, man. I mean, after everything that she’s accomplished and she’s been through, it’s just really who she is to her core. She has standards, she has expectations, she has discipline, and she is a huge role model on this team for myself included, being a senior.”

Brown is third in the country in strikeouts, sitting behind St. John’s Red Storm junior lefty Ana Serafinko and Belmont Bruins redshirt junior lefty Maya Johnson. Brown also sits tenth in the country in ERA and thirteenth in the country in opponent batting average.

On Sunday, she pitched her sixth complete game of the season, only allowing four hits, three earned runs and two walks. Her 13 strikeouts earned Brown her eighth double-digit strikeout game of the year, tying for her third most strikeouts in a single game this season.

“I will tell you that kid has an exceptional work ethic,” Bartlett said. “She’s extremely coachable and (has) a high level of drive. … When (Brown is) landing the changeup, she’s just really hard to hit at all. She just has a lot of tools.”

Those who have stepped up all year for the Sun Devils did so once again on Sunday, and that consistency is not going unnoticed by Bartlett. Now the Sun Devils will look to carry that consistency over to next week’s contests against UTEP and Utah.

“Your primetime players have to show up in some capacity every single day if you’re going to win ball games,” Bartlett said. “I do believe it was a famous hockey coach (who) once said that if your best players aren’t your best players in postseason, you ain’t winning a game. I don’t know (if) that’s really just postseason. … That is their capability level, and it’s what we need them to do to continue to win ball games.”