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On the team’s third day at the Mary Nutter Classic, No. 13 Arizona State (11-4) defeated Bethune Cookman (4-11) by a final score of 4-1 in Palm Springs.
The Devils started their Saturday night matchup late into the evening. Coming off back-back wins in a doubleheader the day prior, ASU came out and knocked off the Wildcats courtesy of a complete game performance from junior pitcher Samantha Mejia.
Mejia threw seven innings while allowing four hits and striking out eight batters. As for the offense, ASU struck first in the third inning after two scoreless innings just prior to that. Senior outfielder Skylar McCarty scored on a wild pitch that plated the first tally of the game.
The next two runs came one inning later in the fourth, and they were both unearned on the Bethune-Cookman pitching staff. Junior outfielder Kindra Hackbarth reached on an error by the Wildcats left fielder, allowing sophomore infielder Kiara Kennedy to score the second run for the Devils.
ASU then added another run on a wild pitch, and Hackbarth came home to score the third run. Bethune-Cookman tallied their lone score in the sixth inning, but their own self-inflicted miscues seemed to be too much to overcome. The Devils added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth when McCarty brought home sophomore infielder Bella Loomis on an RBI double.
McCarty has continued to torch opposing pitching staffs as of late. She is up to a .465 average early on in the season. After a game-winning RBI against Nebraska yesterday, she had two more hits on Saturday, and McCarty continues to be a steady presence at the top of the Sun Devil batting order in her senior campaign.
Additionally, McCarty’s insurance run set the stage for Mejia to close things out in the seventh. Brought together, the win was the Devils’ 11th of the season, and it was their third straight in Palm Springs after losing twice on Thursday.
The team will close out the tournament with one more game on Sunday when they take on Cal Poly at 3 p.m. MST.