ASU Softball: Devils solidify themselves as Pac-12 frontrunners with sweep of Oregon

Sun Devil softball (28-5, 9-0 Pac-12) keeps dancing as it continues its tear of a season with their 17th straight win and third consecutive Pac-12 conference series sweep after beating the Oregon Ducks (24-11, 4-8) 8-6.

Arizona State’s offensive started off slow with only two runners reaching first in the first two innings. Junior Alynah Torres had a single up the middle in the first and sophomore Emily Cazares reached on an error in the second.

Freshman Mac Morgan got the start in the circle for the Sun Devils on Sunday. After giving up two singles and an RBI double, Morgan was able to battle her way out of the first and keep the scoring to two runs.

Morgan kept the second quiet and was replaced by Sophomore Allison Royalty after facing the entire lineup once with the exception of facing the leadoff Han Delgado twice.

Torres, Yannira Acuña, and Cyndey Sanders started the offensive charge with back-to-back-to-back walks in their second at-bat. This goes to show that you don’t always need to use power to get on base, a walk is as good as a hit.

Jazmine Hill took the other route and used her power as she shot a rocket to left-center field for a grand slam which brought the Sun Devils to a 4-2 lead.

The rest of the 3rd went quiet for the Sun Devils, but the damage was already done.

Royalty came back to the circle facing four more batters giving up one RBI single before being replaced by Senior Marissa Schuld. Schuld game in and finished the inning striking out two of the three batters she faced.

The top of the fourth brought a strange feeling of déjà vu when Torress and Acuna hit back-to-back singles. Sanders then showed off her muscles with a three-run moonshot to left-centerfield extending Arizona State’s lead to four.

Schuld continued to battle giving up one run in the bottom half of the four and two in the sixth on a home run by Alle Bunker.

A short rain delay stopped the action for a few minutes, but the Sun Devils didn’t let the weather ice them out.

Cazares started a small rally with a single up the middle and was brought home by graduate transfer Jessica Puk when she lined a single to centerfield.

After adding a little bit of insurance in the top of the seventh the Sun Devils took the field trying to close out the series sweep.

Schuld wasted no time as she forced the first two batters to pop up to the infield. The Ducks saw a glimmer of hope with a two-out single, but the flame quickly burned out with a fly-out to end the game.

This is the first time since 2014 that the Sun Devils have won 17 in a row.

Arizona State returns home as they get set to take on the University of Utah. The first game of the series is set to take place on April 14th at 7 pm MST at Farrington Stadium.