Stanford, Calif. -- The 23rd- ranked Arizona State softball team snapped a four-game slide Thursday afternoon with a 10-0, run rule victory over Stanford at the Boyd and Jill Smith Family Stadium.
Junior Breanna Macha delivered another gem in the circle for the Sun Devils, allowing just three hits in five innings of scoreless work, en rout to her tenth win of the season. Macha needed just 86 pitches, 48 for strikes, in Thursday's win.
"Things didn't go her way a lot of the day, but I thought he did a good job of handling the adversity," head coach Trisha Ford said of Macha's outing. "She is a competitor and she very very hard on herself, but she is good. I am very very happy for her."
The Sun Devil offense got off to a hot start, hanging a six-spot in the top of the first. Following a leadoff groundout, junior Skylar McCarty started a string of nine-straight Sun Devils reaching base safely, plating six total runs.
With The Cardinal unable to answer in home-half of the frame, the Sun Devils extended their lead with a pair of two run blasts off the bats of Chelsea Gonzales and Margaret Stahm, pushing the ASU lead to 10-0 after two innings of play. For Gonzales, the homer in the second was her second hit in what would be a three-for-three day at the plate for the senior shortstop, who brought in her 170th career-RBI in Thursday's win.
"We worked a lot throughout the week off on mechanics," Macha said. "I think that really helped me today. It was really good to have that week off to prepare for today. Coming out and scoring runs in the first inning makes the game more fun and helps us play lose."
From there, both pitchers buckled down to allow just five total hits through the final three innings of work.
"I thought our first two innings we did well," Ford added. "From there we didn't play our game. We have to continue to play our game no matter what the situation is. Tomorrow we will come out and execute that."
With the win, the Sun Devils improved to 59-26 all-time against the Cardinal, including an 9-1 record against Stanford over the last four seasons.
Arizona State will return to action tomorrow afternoon for game two of the three-game series against Stanford. First pitch for Fridays' game is scheduled for 5 p.m. and will be televised on the Pac-12 Network with JB Long and Teri Goldberg on the call. Fans can stay up to date with the Sun Devil softball program by following @ASUSoftball on Twitter.
Junior Breanna Macha delivered another gem in the circle for the Sun Devils, allowing just three hits in five innings of scoreless work, en rout to her tenth win of the season. Macha needed just 86 pitches, 48 for strikes, in Thursday's win.
"Things didn't go her way a lot of the day, but I thought he did a good job of handling the adversity," head coach Trisha Ford said of Macha's outing. "She is a competitor and she very very hard on herself, but she is good. I am very very happy for her."
The Sun Devil offense got off to a hot start, hanging a six-spot in the top of the first. Following a leadoff groundout, junior Skylar McCarty started a string of nine-straight Sun Devils reaching base safely, plating six total runs.
With The Cardinal unable to answer in home-half of the frame, the Sun Devils extended their lead with a pair of two run blasts off the bats of Chelsea Gonzales and Margaret Stahm, pushing the ASU lead to 10-0 after two innings of play. For Gonzales, the homer in the second was her second hit in what would be a three-for-three day at the plate for the senior shortstop, who brought in her 170th career-RBI in Thursday's win.
"We worked a lot throughout the week off on mechanics," Macha said. "I think that really helped me today. It was really good to have that week off to prepare for today. Coming out and scoring runs in the first inning makes the game more fun and helps us play lose."
From there, both pitchers buckled down to allow just five total hits through the final three innings of work.
"I thought our first two innings we did well," Ford added. "From there we didn't play our game. We have to continue to play our game no matter what the situation is. Tomorrow we will come out and execute that."
With the win, the Sun Devils improved to 59-26 all-time against the Cardinal, including an 9-1 record against Stanford over the last four seasons.
Arizona State will return to action tomorrow afternoon for game two of the three-game series against Stanford. First pitch for Fridays' game is scheduled for 5 p.m. and will be televised on the Pac-12 Network with JB Long and Teri Goldberg on the call. Fans can stay up to date with the Sun Devil softball program by following @ASUSoftball on Twitter.