LOS ANGELES – The Arizona State University softball team rallied for an early deficit to take a 6-3 lead over No. 15 UCLA but Mysha Sataraka’s three-run walk-off home run gave the Bruins an 8-6 victory in the series opener on Friday evening in Los Angeles.
Chelsea Gonzales hit a two-run home run – her 12th of the season – and Katee Aguirre was 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Seven different Sun Devils got a hit in the contest.
Breanna Macha was effective for four innings in relief as she kept ASU within striking distance after the Bruins took an early 2-0 lead. Unfortunately, the seventh inning snowballed into five consecutive hits without an out – the last coming on Sataraka’s three-run homer to drop Macha to 6-6 on the season.
Sataraka opened the scoring in the bottom of the first, knock a two-out homer to stake the Bruins an early 2-0 lead.
The Devils cut the deficit to 2-1 on Aguirre’s RBI single in the fourth but UCLA quickly responded with a solo shot from Brianna Tautalafua to make it a 3-1 ball game.
ASU’s offense came roaring back in the sixth, however, as Gonzales home run tied the game at 3-3. A walk and a reach on a fielder’s choice would bring Aguirre to the plate and she did was she did the first time around and singled in a run to give ASU it’s first lead of the contest at 4-3.
The Devils tagged on two more in the top of the seventh as Jennifer Soria scored on an error and Sashel Palacios singled home another run to make it 6-3.
That would be the final highlight of the game, however, as UCLA knocked four straight singles to open up the bottom of the seventh and cut the lead to 6-5 in the process and set Sataraka up with no outs and two-runners on for her game-winner.
The three-game series will resume tomorrow at 7 p.m. PT on Pac-12 Arizona/Los Angeles.