TEMPE, Ariz. -- The No. 11 Arizona State softball team is back for a weekday special at Club Farrington after a Wild West showdown that saw 60 runs scored for the Sun Devils last Friday and Saturday. Head coach Trisha Ford and company face Northern Illinois on Tuesday, March 9, and Baylor on Thursday, March 11 at Alberta B. Farrington Softball Stadium. The first pitch of both games will be thrown at 6 p.m. MST.
Both matchups are available to watch for free on the Pac-12/ASU Live Stream.
ASU (15-1) is on its best start since 2014 and an eight-game winning streak heading into the two non-conference bouts. Last weekend at the Orange and Blue Tournament, ASU brought softball dreams to life with big bats and shutout pitching. The squad furthered their home run lead and are now more than ten ahead of the next Pac-12 team. ASU's 44 home runs rank third in the nation. While the batters hit bombs, the mound queens of Cielo Meza, Allison Royalty, and Lindsay Lopez threw 30 strikeouts, allowed only six runs, and issued two walks through four games and 22.0 innings pitched.
Denae Chatman hit a lights-out performance, boasting a .636 batting average on the weekend with seven runs, three doubles, seven RBI, two home runs - including a grand slam - and a slugging percentage of 1.455. The opposing team couldn't keep Chatman from getting on-base. The senior finished four games with a team-high .733 on-base percentage.
SUN DEVIL REWIND
The Sun Devil Softball hot streak continued at the Orange and Blue Tournament with a 4-0 sweep in El Paso, Texas, this past weekend.
ASU opened the tournament with a 17-5 win over Montana (4-10) and secured the doubleheader sweep with a 14-0 shutout over Incarnate Word (2-8). The next day, ASU and UIW faced off again, with ASU coming away with the 8-0 win. The team ended the tournament defeating UTEP, 21-1. It's the most runs scored in a game since defeating Weber State, 21-1, on February 9, 2019.
Over the weekend, the Sun Devils stacked up impressive numbers with a whopping 60 runs - 31 on Friday and 29 on Saturday - nine dingers and four run-rule victories. In Saturday's Texas-sized defeat of UTEP, the Sun Devils scored ten runs in the 4th inning to break a record held for two years. The last time ASU scored ten runs in an inning was March 16, 2019, against Oregon State.
ASU hit five home runs against Montana and six against UTEP to break a standard set in THAT famous 2019 comeback game against Utah where the Sun Devils went yard five times. The team also totaled 41 bases against Montana, which shatters the team's 35 in that same game against the Utes.
As a unit, the team finished the weekend with a .449 batting average, 12 doubles, 16 home runs, 24 walks, and a .992 slugging percentage.
ALL THAT'S GOOD IS GOLD - NATIONAL RANKINGS
STRAIGHT FACTS
Both matchups are available to watch for free on the Pac-12/ASU Live Stream.
ASU (15-1) is on its best start since 2014 and an eight-game winning streak heading into the two non-conference bouts. Last weekend at the Orange and Blue Tournament, ASU brought softball dreams to life with big bats and shutout pitching. The squad furthered their home run lead and are now more than ten ahead of the next Pac-12 team. ASU's 44 home runs rank third in the nation. While the batters hit bombs, the mound queens of Cielo Meza, Allison Royalty, and Lindsay Lopez threw 30 strikeouts, allowed only six runs, and issued two walks through four games and 22.0 innings pitched.
Denae Chatman hit a lights-out performance, boasting a .636 batting average on the weekend with seven runs, three doubles, seven RBI, two home runs - including a grand slam - and a slugging percentage of 1.455. The opposing team couldn't keep Chatman from getting on-base. The senior finished four games with a team-high .733 on-base percentage.
SUN DEVIL REWIND
The Sun Devil Softball hot streak continued at the Orange and Blue Tournament with a 4-0 sweep in El Paso, Texas, this past weekend.
ASU opened the tournament with a 17-5 win over Montana (4-10) and secured the doubleheader sweep with a 14-0 shutout over Incarnate Word (2-8). The next day, ASU and UIW faced off again, with ASU coming away with the 8-0 win. The team ended the tournament defeating UTEP, 21-1. It's the most runs scored in a game since defeating Weber State, 21-1, on February 9, 2019.
Over the weekend, the Sun Devils stacked up impressive numbers with a whopping 60 runs - 31 on Friday and 29 on Saturday - nine dingers and four run-rule victories. In Saturday's Texas-sized defeat of UTEP, the Sun Devils scored ten runs in the 4th inning to break a record held for two years. The last time ASU scored ten runs in an inning was March 16, 2019, against Oregon State.
ASU hit five home runs against Montana and six against UTEP to break a standard set in THAT famous 2019 comeback game against Utah where the Sun Devils went yard five times. The team also totaled 41 bases against Montana, which shatters the team's 35 in that same game against the Utes.
As a unit, the team finished the weekend with a .449 batting average, 12 doubles, 16 home runs, 24 walks, and a .992 slugging percentage.
ALL THAT'S GOOD IS GOLD - NATIONAL RANKINGS
- No. 5 with a batting average of 0.394
- No. 2 an average of 2.75 home runs per game
- No. 2 with a slugging percentage of 0.793
- No. 3 in strikeout-to-walk ratio with an 8.27
- No. 8 in doubles with 33
STRAIGHT FACTS
- The Sun Devils have hit a home run in each game of 2021 and notched multiple in a game 12 times. The team has hit a home run in the last straight 20 games dating back to last season.
- Jazmine Hill, Maddi Hackbarth, Alynah Torres, and Mailey McLemore came together to do the unthinkable - hit four home runs in four consecutive at-bats against Montana on March 5, 2021
- Denae Chatman leads the grand slam tally with two on the season (against UTEP and Cal State Fullerton)
- Maddi Hackbarth leads the conference in doubles (7), home runs (10), RBIs (29), slugging percentage (1.229), and total bases (59). Her RBIs and home runs rank fourth and fifth in the nation, respectively.
- Six Sun Devils are batting over .400 on the season - Kindra Hackbarth (.471), Maddi Hackbarth (.458), Alli Tatnall (.450), Denae Chatman (.432), Brittany Holland (.407), and Jazmine Hill (.404)
- Chatman (20) and Hill (23) are second and third on the team in RBIs, respectively.
- Freshman Harleigh Braswell hit the first home run of her collegiate career against UTEP to notch three RBI.
- Lindsay Lopez's 1.15 ERA ranks seventh in the Pac-12 while her two shutouts ties with freshman Allison Royalty at second in the conference
- Cielo Meza's strikeout-to-walk ratio (20.00) leads the Pac-12 and ranks fifth in the country
- She's got wheels: Kindra Hackbarth's nine stolen bases ranks No. 2 in the Pac-12
- Since its debut, the Sparky uniform is undefeated.