TEMPE ? The No. 19 Arizona State softball team split a pair of games on the first day of the Diamond Devil Invitational, falling to No. 21 Minnesota, 10-1, before bouncing back with a 6-5 win against the University of Houston on Friday at Farrington Stadium.
Jenn Soria and Nikki Girard each went 4-for-6 at the plate on the day to lead the Sun Devil offense while Sashel Palacios and Fa Leilua each went yard on the day.
Arizona State returns to the diamond tomorrow with another doubleheader against St. Francis at 5:30 p.m. MT and Mount St. Mary’s right after at Farrington Stadium.
Complete recaps from each of Friday’s contests can be found below.
ASU 6, Houston 5
In the second game, true freshman Fa Leilua went 2-4 and registered her first collegiate home run against Houston.
Sophomore RHP Dale Ryndak (5-0) pitched a complete game as she scattered nine hits, four earned runs and four strikeouts.
The Cougars got on the board first on the heels of two Sun Devil errors to open the game. Katie St. Pierre reached on an error and took second on a sac bunt. Elise LeBeouf singled and a wild throw to first, which ended in the visitor’s dugout, gave the Cougars a 1-0 lead.
The Sun Devils responded in the bottom of the second with a run of their own as Allie Butterfield stepped up with the bases loaded and singled to drive in Leilua to tie it up 1-1.
Abby Spiel started the bottom of the third with a walk. Following two outs, Leilua hit a monster two-run home run to left field ? her first of the season and collegiate career ? to give ASU a 3-1 lead.
Girard gets thrown out at home on an Aguirre single but ASU reclaims the lead thanks to this @leilua18's homer: https://t.co/1VQtQEhyEh
? Sun Devil Softball (@ASUSoftball) February 27, 2016
Savannah Heebner singled for Houston and scored on a Kaylin Crumpton double in the top of the fifth to cut the Sun Devils lead to 3-2.
The Sun Devils hammered in three more runs on a merry-go-round of singles as Missy Eisen, Avi Davis, and Taylor Becerra all scored on bases loaded singles to give ASU a 6-2 lead.
The Cougars still had some pop left in their bats, though, as Julana Shrum hit a three-run home run to cut the lead to 5-6 and keep things interesting in the top of the seventh, but that would be it as Taylor Becerra made the final out in foul territory.
ASU 1, #21 Minnesota 10
Junior Sashel Palacios scored the Sun Devils’ lone run on a solo home run ? her second of the season ? in the bottom of the fourth inning.
In the circle, Breanna Macha came on in relief of starting pitcher Kelsey Kessler in the fourth inning, giving up four runs -- two earned -- on five hits through 3.1 innings. Kessler gave up six runs ? four earned?on five hits and two walks through 3.2 innings.
The Gophers stuck first, scoring two runs in the first inning and added four more in the top of the fourth, including a three-run home run from Sam Macken that ended the night for Kessler in the circle.
The Sun Devils had a tough time figuring out the Gophers’ All-American pitcher Sara Groenewegen as they went scoreless for three innings with only two hits, both coming off the bat of Jenn Soria. ?The Minnesota ace allowed four hits in a complete game effort, striking out 10 with just one walk.
Palacios hit a solo shot to center field for the first run of the game for ASU in the bottom of the fourth inning to cut the Gophers lead to 6-1.
But the Gophers would tack on four more runs in the sixth and seventh inning to hand the Sun Devils their second loss of the 2016 season.