Tempe, Ariz.- The 21st-ranked Sun Devil Softball team completed Friday night's doubleheader with a 7-1 win over the Illinois State Red Birds at Farrington Stadium.
Freshman pitcher, G Juarez had a dominant outing in the circle, throwing her first complete game as a Sun Devil. The Glendale, Ariz., native held the Red Birds to only three hits and one earned run with 10 strikeouts on the night.
"There's always pregame jitters," said Juarez. "But I think knowing that my team is going to have my back, and score, is great. It was just great to know they had my back the entire time."
The Sun Devil offense did not lose its momentum throughout the night as ASU delivered a season high 12-hit game in the second half of the Friday doubleheader. Sophomore third-baseman, Taylor Becerra, put ASU on the board in the second inning with an RBI single to left, and then followed with another RBI single in the bottom of the third.
"Our approach stayed the same at the plate," head coach Trisha Ford said. "This is a game built around failure, so the better we are at dealing with adversity and responding, the better we will be in the season. I thought they did a heck of a job today showing that. We just need to stay aggressive with good pitches."
Freshman infielder, Emma Ramelot, also added a pair of RBIs in the third with a single to right field, marking her first two RBI as a Sun Devil to give ASU a 4-0 lead going into the fourth.
Fa Leilua was dominant in the box as she finished the Friday doubleheader going 4-6 with a double and 2 home runs adding up to 5 RBIs and 5 runs scored on the night. "It felt great to be back," said Leilua. "I kind of lost it in the beginning, but today I decided to be aggressive and break through. I finally found my momentum and hopefully it carries over into tomorrow."
"We worked on really staying focused on the little things and playing hard for your teammates," Ford added. "Our energy in the dugout was phenomenal tonight. Those are momentum builders and if we can keep the momentum on our side we're going to be very successful."
With the pair of wins tonight, the Sun Devils improved to 9-0 on the year, the best start to a season since 2014 when the Sun Devils carded 18 wins to begin the season.
ASU will be back at Farrington Stadium Saturday night for another doubleheader beginning at 5:15 p.m. AZT. Game one for the Sun Devils features a rematch against Illinois State, before taking on No. 17 Missouri at 8:00 p.m.
Fans cal follow all of the action from the 2017 season by following @ASUSoftball on Twitter.