ASU Softball: Harper’s five-RBI night leads to run-rule win over Northern Illinois

It’s been Makenna Harper’s breakout year thus far. The Sun Devil left fielder added a homer and drove in a total of five runs in Arizona State’s (16-1) 10-2 run-rule victory over Northern Illinois.

Harper cracked her fourth home run of the season in the bottom of the fourth. The three-run blast set the Sun Devils up to finish the game early on Tuesday. She also drove in a pair on a single in the third.

She’s simply became another dangerous bat in the loaded Arizona State lineup.

“I think it leads back to just having an approach and just sticking to our plan,” Harper said. “I think it’s super important that even before the games all week when we’re leading up to a game that we practice the plan. So I think just having this great routine and this great culture that our coaches provide us and I think it’s just trusting the process and I think you can see that that’s really paying off for us.”

Other contributors to the 10 runs were some of the normal suspects. Kindra Hackbarth also hit a home run. Maddi Hackbarth went a prefect 3-for-3 at the plate and brought in a run.

Then Brittany Holland continued her first season as a Sun Devil by netting herself a hit and two RBIs.

Northern Illinois only put together two runs in the fourth inning. Other than that, Lindsay Lopez was solid once again. She threw all five innings, allowed the two runs on two hits and struck out four on her way to her sixth win.

Arizona State now starts back-to-back games against Big 12 opponent Baylor. The first game will take place on Thursday at 6:00 p.m. MT.