ASU Softball: No. 17 Sun Devils split Saturday doubleheader

Game One vs. Southern Utah

The Sun Devils offense showed out again. Three home runs and a plethora of hits powered Arizona State (15-5) to a 12-0 win over Southern Utah (1-12).

Kiara Kennedy, Maddi and Kindra Hackbarth delivered the long balls. Kennedy started the Sun Devils’ eight-run third inning, she doubled and later scored on a sacrifice fly from Kindra Hackbarth. Her fourth home run of the season capped off the frame as well.

Jazmine Hill had a little league home run in the third, officially scored as a three-RBI triple, she scored on a Southern Utah error during the play. Macy Simmons, who got the start behind the plate, added a two-RBI single.

The performance in the circle matched the offense. Freshman left-handed pitcher Lindsay Lopez started for Arizona State. She gave up one hit in her four innings pitched, producing seven fly outs. Sun Devil coach Trisha Ford was very pleased with Lopez’s outing.

“I thought Lindsay did a great job,” Ford said. “She came out and had her first start of the year. She made pitches when she needed to make them and I thought she threw well.”

Game One vs. Wisconsin

Arizona State (15-6) found itself on the opposite end of an offensive onslaught. Wisconsin’s (10-8) bats came out hot in its eventual 10-1 win over the Sun Devils.

Thanks to a good piece of hitting by Badger catcher Taylor Johnson sneaking a ball inside the left field line, Wisconsin struck fast against the Sun Devils starter Madison Preston. She struggled in the circle on Saturday. She allowed seven earned runs after a Caroline Hedgcock home run and still was responsible for a runner on Jolie Fish’s grand slam against Cielo Meza.

According to catcher Maddi Hackbarth, Preston wasn’t getting her usual drop on her pitches on Saturday.

Badger starter Kaitlyn Menz rebounded after her loss on Friday night to the Sun Devils. She kept them quiet until a Makenna Harper single in the seventh inning brought home Arizona State’s lone run.

Ford spoke earlier in the week that her team didn’t play well through the harder situations at the Mary Nutter Classic, and the same held true on Saturday. Her team will only improve in those situations as time goes on.

“Just learning from it. Address it as a team, I think they stayed out there as a team and talked about some things,” Ford said. “This game is hard, you fail a lot and how you deal with that failure is pretty indicative about how season is going to go.”

Luckily for the Sun Devils, there’s always the next day. They’ll attempt to bounce back against Maryland on Sunday at 12:00 p.m.