ASU Softball: Sun Devils knock off SDSU, advance to Super Regional

For the first time since 2018, Arizona State softball (42-9) will be hosting the Super Regional round. Sunday’s 8-4 win over San Diego State (39-16), the team’s second in as many days, completed an undefeated weekend for the Sun Devils.

Unlike Saturday, it was the Aztecs who struck first. Mac Barbara hit her third home run of the weekend in the first, a solo shot. Alexa Schultz would hit a two-run shot the following inning, but that was all the fireworks SDSU had left in the tank.

Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, Cydney Sanders, picked up her first RBIs of postseason play when she homered in the home half of the first. It was Sanders’ 21st bomb of the year, breaking the ASU single-season record.

“(My team) told me after the game,” said Sanders of breaking the record. “I actually didn’t know, but that’s really exciting.”

Jazmine Hill would tee off on a three-run homer in the third, giving ASU the lead for good. The following inning, Bella Loomis placed a beautiful bunt down with plenty of backspin to force an overthrow at first, driving in two more.

“San Diego State is a great offensive team and they just kept punching back,” said Hill. “Our biggest thing was to just keep pushing and just keep putting up more runs. So it was good to have that lead, but we just had to keep making sure that we kept going.”

After allowing three runs in the first two innings, pitcher Mac Morgan threw her second complete game of the weekend. Unlike Friday, when she struck out a career-high number of batters, Morgan did not strike out any and trusted her defense.

“When (Morgan) is amped up, her ball is straight and fast,” said head coach Trisha Ford. “I think as she gets tired, her ball tends to have the seven to eight inches of break versus the five to six. That’s a big difference because she’s a pitch-to-contact pitcher.”

In the Super Regional round of the Women’s College World Series, the Sun Devils will host the No. 9 Wildcats of Northwestern University in a best-of-three series this upcoming weekend. Follow @HouseOfSparky on Twitter for updates on specific details on when those games will be played.