ASU Softball: Devils fall in Pac-12 tournament opener

TUCSON, Ariz., — Arizona State’s softball season came to an end on Wednesday as the Devils fell 13-4 in five innings to Arizona in the first game of the inaugural Pac-12 tournament.

In coach Megan Bartlett’s first season, the Devils finished 22-26, including a 6-18 mark in conference play that gave them the ninth seed in the tournament.

It was the Devils who struck first in a big way against the eighth-seeded Wildcats, as a Jazmine Hill grand slam gave ASU a 4-0 lead in the first inning.

After a scoreless bottom half of the first, the Wildcats responded in the second, loading the bases to open the inning, and Logan Cole drove in their first run with a groundout.

Dakota Kennedy drew a four-pitch walk to re-load the bases, which set up Carlie Scupin, who cleared the bases with a double to tie the game at four.

Kylee Magee and Devyn Netz put up zeros in the third, but Scupin doubled again in the fourth to give Arizona a 5-4 lead going into the fifth.

The fifth inning is when things quickly unraveled for the Sun Devils.

Kaiah Altmeyer drove Magee from the game with an RBI single to extend the lead to 6-4, and Kenzie Brown entered to try and limit the damage.

Brown was able to record an via a fielder’s choice, but Kennedy drew another walk to load the bases and Scupin drove in another run with an RBI single to extend the lead to 7-4.

Brown hit the next two Wildcat pitches, forcing in another run both times, and Allie Skaggs ended it with an opposite-field walk-off grand slam.

Arizona will now play UCLA on Thursday in the quarterfinals. The Bruins earned the No. 1 seed in the tournament with a 21-3 record in conference play and are ranked No. 2 in the country on D1softball.com with their 50-4 overall record.

The Pac-12 tournament final will take place at Hillenbrand Memorial Stadium in Tucson on Saturday, May 13 at 7 p.m.