(Photo credit: Maya Diaz/WCSN)
It was a tough competition from the start at ASU softball’s Maroon versus Gold scrimmage on Wednesday night at Farrington Stadium.
After the first inning with the score tied at 0, both teams got more offensively aggressive throughout the rest of the game.
In the bottom of the second inning, Team Tempe got a rally going when sophomore catcher Samantha Swan showed bunt at the plate as freshmen utility player Corie Shull stole second. The throw from the plate ricocheted off Shull’s helmet and into the outfield allowing her to score to put Team Tempe on the board. Then a hard hit to the fence from junior infielder Ayden Allen brought another runner home giving Team Tempe the lead. In the top of the third, Team Sparky showed dominance adding three runs to the board due to Team Tempe’s defensive struggles.
The fourth inning was huge for Team Tempe. They worked their way back from a four-run deficit to tie the game by the end of the inning.
A hit past the shortstop from sophomore infielder Maddie Okano brought a runner in for Team Tempe to lessen Team Sparky’s lead. Then, Swan hit a hard ground ball down the third base line to bring in two runs, making the score 6-5 in favor of Team Sparky. A stolen base off a wild pitch brought home another run, allowing Team Tempe to tie it up in the bottom of the fourth.
For Team Tempe, sophomore right-handed pitcher Meika Lauppe started in the circle for the first four innings, and she allowed six runs. Then, freshman righty Cambree Creager took over to pitch the last three innings. During Creager’s first inning in the circle, Team Sparky went three-up-three-down with Creager striking out a batter.
For Team Sparky, freshman right-hander Julianne Tipton pitched the first four innings, allowing six runs as well. In the bottom of the fifth inning, senior right-handed pitcher Kenzie Brown came in and pitched 1.2 innings. In the sixth, Creager switched teams and came in to finish the last out of the inning.
In Brown’s first inning of pitching, Team Tempe loaded the bases after well-placed hits and errors in the field, then Brown walked one run in. A fly ball caught in left field by sophomore outfielder Jolee Benson closed the shaky inning and Team Sparky managed to only give up the one run in the fifth.
A home run from sophomore infielder Nehanda Lewis in the bottom of the sixth brought in two runs to extend Team Tempe’s lead to 9-6. Throughout the game, Team Sparky recorded six runs on nine hits with two errors. Team Tempe finished with nine runs on 11 hits and four errors on the night. Team Tempe walked away with the win Wednesday night.
ASU Softball’s next scrimmage of the fall season will be Wednesday, Oct. 30th at 6 pm at Farrington Stadium in Tempe.
