The Sun Devil circle comes up big once again for the defense

(Photo credit: Madison Sorenson/WCSN)

TEMPE — A five-infielder shift from the Sun Devils in the first inning on Saturday was the plan of attack for a guaranteed Portland State bunt. Freshman outfielder Ashleigh Mejia came all the way in from right field, ready to cover a bag. The Vikings laid down a bunt toward the left side of the infield, where freshman infielder Takyla Davis was waiting. The ball was bobbled in front of home plate, and Portland State not only advanced their runner on first but added another base runner as well.

While Arizona State moved back to its regular defensive alignment, another bunt from the next batter, this one a bit more powerful, went right back to Davis on the third base line. Freshman infielder Tiare Ho-Ching, who was playing second base, ran over to cover first the moment the bunt was laid down. While Davis was able to field this one, the throw was just a tad high, and Ho-Ching was unable to grasp it. The play was ruled as a fielding error on Ho-Ching.

As the ball barely trickled past Ho-Ching, the Vikings runner scored, and Arizona State was down 1-0 due to errors without recording a single out.

Still, despite the early mistakes Arizona State (9-5) picked up an impressive 10-3 win against the Portland State Vikings (3-11) on Saturday. To earn the win, Sun Devils pitching coach Jeremy Manley and head coach Megan Bartlett kept their rotation busy.

The impressive performances from the Sun Devils in the circle balanced out the early defensive mistakes, which have become commonplace for ASU this season. Going into Saturday’s game, the ASU defense had committed 20 errors and sat at a .949 fielding percentage. On Friday against No. 3 Florida, defensive coordinator Hailey Decker made some adjustments to get the team on track.

Freshman infielder Grace Molitor was pulled from shortstop Friday after her tenth error of the year. Utility senior AJ Murphy, who was at third base, was moved over one spot to the right, and Davis was subbed in at third. The Davis-Murphy 5-6 pair was seen in action throughout the game Saturday.

Despite the errors in the first inning that assisted the Vikings in getting out to a quick 3-0 lead, the defense calmed down from there. Luckily for the Sun Devils, the circle was also able to carry them the rest of the way.

“We have some veteran protection on the mound, so we just need to continue to make sure they believe in their stuff,” Bartlett said.

Everyone in the rotation was used at some point during the doubleheader on Friday. Even with the tired arms, three ASU pitchers faced several batters on Saturday. Senior right-hander Kenzie Brown threw for three complete innings against the Cal Baptist Lancers Friday night, only giving up one run and three hits. On Saturday, she was credited with the win, tossing four innings with no hits, no runs and only two walks with five strikeouts.

“I think I have just really worked on staying true to myself and not trying to do too much,” Brown said. “That’s been a learning process for me, for sure. But, the more innings I get I feel like the better I’ll keep getting.”

Freshman right-hander Julianne Tipton had a busy Friday afternoon against Florida, pitching three innings and giving up four hits and four runs. She recovered on Saturday with limited time, pitching one inning and allowing one hit while recording a strikeout.

The start was given to sophomore right-hander Meika Lauppe. This was no surprise, as she has now appeared in eight of ASU’s last 10 games. As a matter of fact, the only two games she missed were a part of doubleheaders she already pitched in.

Lauppe was coming off four innings pitched against Cal Baptist, an appearance where she stayed disciplined and only allowed two hits. She did not have a picture-perfect two innings on Saturday, where two hits and a walk turned into three runs. Of those three runs, only one was earned.

This has been the story for the Sun Devil circle all year. The rotation has allowed 62 runs in 2025. However, only 46 (74.19%) of those runs have been earned by their opponents. Lauppe knows this all too well. 53.85% of runs scored against her have been counted as earned runs, the lowest percentage on the team. All in all, she has allowed 13 total runs, with only seven going against her ERA.

The circle has been the highlight of ASU’s defense. The rest of the field still has time to learn, adjust and grow before conference play starts in early March, but to this point, most of the brunt of work defensively has fallen on the shoulders of the four-pitcher rotation.

“Meika and Kenzie are doing a beautiful job right now,” Bartlett said. “Julianne and [freshman right-hander] Cambree [Creager] are very, very talented. … They’re throwing pitches with conviction, and we’ll continue to put them in situations (where) hopefully they can be successful. Once they do that, I think you’re really going to see something special.”