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We have reached the second and final semifinal of our #SunDevilMoments series, where we will attempt to fill in the latter half of our championship matchup. Yesterday, we saw Kalen Ballage's moonwalk clinch the first spot in our title game.
Here is how the bracket looks thus far:
#SunDevilMoments Final Four - No. 2 Seed: Kareem Orr's pick-six against Arizona vs. No. 3 Seed: Ryan Hingst throw's no-hitter against Utah
#SunDevilMoments Series No. 2 Seed: Kareem Orr's pick-six against Arizona
If you asked Arizona State fans to summarize the 2015 football season, they might use words such as "disappointing" or "frustrating" when describing ASU's 6-7 campaign.
That being said, one game always stands out among the rest when the schedule is released: the Territorial Cup. The Wildcats held the cup entering the 2015 season by way of their 2014 victory in Tucson.
On November 21, 2015 the two teams met on a sunny Saturday afternoon in Tempe.
The Sun Devils jumped out to a 14-0 lead and led 31-10 at halftime, seemingly on their way to a third victory over Arizona in Todd Graham's four years as head coach.
The Wildcats made their move in the third quarter, outscoring the Sun Devils 13-0 to bring the score to 31-23 after three. After ASU took a 38-23 lead on a D.J. Foster touchdown run, Arizona pulled within eight on a 17-yard touchdown pass from Brandon Hawkins to Tyrell Johnson.
After an ASU punt, Arizona took over at their own six-yard line with 4:08 left. After a four-yard rush and an incomplete pass, the Wildcats faced a third and six from the 10-yard line.
Arizona lined up with two receivers split to either side and a back next to Dawkins. The Sun Devils brought six and forced Dawkins to rush his throw.
The Arizona quarterback airmailed his intended receiver and the pass fell into the arms of a leaping Kareem Orr. The freshman safety took the ball at the 21-yard line near the far hash and went untouched into the end zone to give ASU a 45-30 lead to effectively put the game out of reach.
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#SunDevilMoments No. 3 Seed: Ryan Hingst throws a no-hitter against Utah
Needless to say, the Arizona State baseball team needed something, anything, to happen.
Coming into a late-March game against lowly Utah, the Sun Devils had dropped five straight games and were in danger of losing all momentum gained from a surprising 13-3 start to the year.
Then, Ryan Hingst stepped up.
Almost out of nowhere, the sophomore right-hander pieced together one of the greatest pitching performances in program history, methodically making his way through the Ute lineup time and again. He hit one batter and allowed two others to reach via walks, but when center fielder Andrew Shaps camped under the 27th and final out of the night, it was official.
Hingst had thrown the 10th no-hitter in Arizona State history.
The final out of Arizona State's Ryan Hingst's no-hitter. This is March. pic.twitter.com/4cKugb8atJ
— Connor Pelton (@ConnorPelton28) March 26, 2016
It took the righty 121 pitches to complete the game, which, as head coach Tracy Smith put it after, was right where his limit was.
"121 (pitches) is what we set it at," joked Smith. "Thank God he got him on that last pitch, because we were going to take him out."
The no-hitter was the first since 2013, when Ryan Kellogg accomplished the same feat against Oregon State.
As the season progressed, Hingst's act proved to be even more impressive. While Utah was just 7-13 at the time, the team would go on to win the Pac-12 and take the conference's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
The no-hitter also seemed to spark the Sun Devils, who went on to win seven of their next eight series. Smith's young team ended up earning a No. 2 seed into the NCAA Tournament, eventually advancing to the Fort Worth Regional final before falling to host TCU.