TEMPE -- The Sun Devils used a shutout performance from senior Cielo Meza and two home runs to help earn the victory over the South Dakota Coyotes, 5-0 on Tuesday afternoon at Farrington Stadium. The win improves ASU's record to 22-7 on the season and 18-4 at home.
"Today, we did a job of coming out and scoring and putting the pressure on them", said Head Coach Trisha Ford. "I would have liked for us to continue to put that pressure on. I think we had some at-bats that we kind of threw away and those were the things that kind of make us inconsistent."
Senior Cielo Meza went the full seven innings to record her third shutout of the season with the help of a flawless defensive effort to help cap off the Sun Devil win.
The Sun Devil offense got off to a strong start in the first, with Jazmine Hill shooting a single through the right side to score Kindra Hackbarth and notch Hill's 20th RBI of the season. A two-run shot immediately followed with Maddi Hackbarth launching her ninth homer of the year and placing her at the top of the Pac-12 in that department. It wasn't for long as teammate Alynah Torres hit a solo shot to dead center, tying Hackbarth for the conference lead and extending the score 4-0.
K. Hackbarth provided an insurance run in the bottom half of the sixth with a sac fly to bring around Olivia Miller to push the lead to 5-0 and ultimately finish off the Coyotes. ASU has now held opponents scoreless for 22 straight innings.
"This weekend was big for us, coming off some nice wins and finishing off our homestand, which was great," said Ford. "Now, getting ready to go to UCLA so that is always exciting to getting to start PAC and it's kind of like the start of a new season. We are pretty excited to get going and be able to face the No. 1 team."
Up Next
Arizona State (22-7) will head to Los Angeles, Calif. to begin conference action with a three-game series against UCLA from Mar 13-15. Following the series with the Bruins, the Sun Devils return2- back to Farrington Stadium for a matchup with the Pac-12 rival Arizona for a three-game set (Mar 20-22). Fans can follow @ASUSoftball on Twitter to keep up all season long with Sun Devil Softball.
?? straight W's to close non-conference pic.twitter.com/j42AQGcAXq
— Sun Devil Softball (@ASUSoftball) March 10, 2020
"Today, we did a job of coming out and scoring and putting the pressure on them", said Head Coach Trisha Ford. "I would have liked for us to continue to put that pressure on. I think we had some at-bats that we kind of threw away and those were the things that kind of make us inconsistent."
Senior Cielo Meza went the full seven innings to record her third shutout of the season with the help of a flawless defensive effort to help cap off the Sun Devil win.
The Sun Devil offense got off to a strong start in the first, with Jazmine Hill shooting a single through the right side to score Kindra Hackbarth and notch Hill's 20th RBI of the season. A two-run shot immediately followed with Maddi Hackbarth launching her ninth homer of the year and placing her at the top of the Pac-12 in that department. It wasn't for long as teammate Alynah Torres hit a solo shot to dead center, tying Hackbarth for the conference lead and extending the score 4-0.
?? OUR THRONE ??
— Sun Devil Softball (@ASUSoftball) March 10, 2020
Alynah & Maddi are now your new @pac12 HR leaders ?? pic.twitter.com/iMHOmzgh3r
K. Hackbarth provided an insurance run in the bottom half of the sixth with a sac fly to bring around Olivia Miller to push the lead to 5-0 and ultimately finish off the Coyotes. ASU has now held opponents scoreless for 22 straight innings.
Fourth straight shutout ?? #OnTheBoat pic.twitter.com/FdC9peuhVF
— Sun Devil Softball (@ASUSoftball) March 10, 2020
"This weekend was big for us, coming off some nice wins and finishing off our homestand, which was great," said Ford. "Now, getting ready to go to UCLA so that is always exciting to getting to start PAC and it's kind of like the start of a new season. We are pretty excited to get going and be able to face the No. 1 team."
Up Next
Arizona State (22-7) will head to Los Angeles, Calif. to begin conference action with a three-game series against UCLA from Mar 13-15. Following the series with the Bruins, the Sun Devils return2- back to Farrington Stadium for a matchup with the Pac-12 rival Arizona for a three-game set (Mar 20-22). Fans can follow @ASUSoftball on Twitter to keep up all season long with Sun Devil Softball.