May 4, 2013
Territorial Cup Series
TUCSON, Ariz. - After another late Wildcat rally, Arizona State softball (42-9, 13-7 Pac-12) fell 6-4 in the Territorial Cup series clincher against Arizona (30-22, 7-13 Pac-12) in front Saturday's crowd of 2,732.
The Sun Devils scored on a homer in the second inning off the bat of Bethany Kemp. Three more runs came in during the fifth, on a two-out rally for a 4-0 cushion heading into the latter part of the game.
Starter Mackenzie Popescue (17-5) held Arizona off the board until the fifth when Arizona respond with three runs of their own to close the gap 4-3. The Wildcats kept the momentum for a three-run sixth inning en route to a second come-from-behind win against the Devils. Arizona's reliever Estela Pinon got the win (10-8) on 2.1 innings pitched and eight batters faced.
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Like in Friday's game, Arizona State was the first to put a run on the scoreboard. Bethany Kemp led off with a solo-homer to left for the 1-0 lead in the second inning. The Sun Devils are hitting .305 on the year with two outs and proved their ability to bring those runners in during the fifth inning with a rally that scored three runs for a 4-0 lead. Cheyenne Coyle began the rally by plating Bailey Wigness and Alix Johnson with a double to left. Amber Freeman then hit a double of her own that brought in Coyle and the 116th RBI on two outs this year for Arizona State.
In the bottom of the fifth, Alex Lavine brought in Arizona's first run of the game in Mandie Perez, on a double down the right line. Gabby Sandstedt scored on a failed throw-down to third base, unearned, and was joined by Lavine shortly after for another unearned run. Lavine's run came during Chelsea Suitos' at-bat to cap the inning at 4-3, still in favor of ASU.
Arizona took a 6-4 lead in the bottom of the sixth behind a three-run homer by Perez, the ball just slipping over the wall in right center. It marked six-straight runs for the Wildcats in response to a fifth frame where ASU led off on three of its own.
The come-from-behind rally for Arizona eventually would do it for the 6-4 final score, as Arizona State was unable to score its base runner in the top of the seventh. Five Sun Devils had hits in the game, Coyle finished 1-for-3 with two RBI and one run scored.
UP NEXT
The series concludes on Sunday at 3 p.m. PT on the Pac-12 Network.
NOTES
ASU is 38-4 when scoring first.
ASU has 42 home run games, 27 of those are multiple home run games. ASU also has 17 home run games in the Pac-12, 10 of those multiple Pac-12 homer games.
This is the first time ASU has lost a series to Arizona since 2010.
When there are two outs on the board, ASU has hit in 115 RBI to opponents 41.
Bethany Kemp's home run in the second is her ninth of the season.
Territorial Cup Series
ASU leads 8.5 to Arizona's 6.5. For softball, all regular season games count towards the season series tally.
Remaining Softball TV Schedule
May 5 at Arizona 3 p.m. PT Pac-12 Network
May 10 vs. Oregon 5 p.m. PT Pac-12 Network
May 11 vs. Oregon 5 p.m. PT Pac-12 Network
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Road to the Championship | NCAA.com
NCAA Selection Show: May 12, 7 p.m. PT on ESPNU
64 teams, 31 automatic qualifiers, 16 seeded teams
Regionals: May 16-19 on 16 campus sites. Four-teams, double elimination
Super Regionals: May 23-26 on eight campus sites. Two teams, best-of-three format
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WCWS: Oklahoma City May 30-June 5.
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