TEMPE– Sun Devil Softball returned to action Friday at Farrington Stadium against South Mountain Community College in its second contest in the fall ball season. In their first game against the opposition, Arizona State defeated the local team in eight innings 10-0. It was a productive night for the pitching staff of Marissa Schuld, Mac Osborne, Deborah Jones and Kenzie Jones as they had 12 strikeouts in a collective no-hitter.
"The pitchers have continued to settle in and we played clean defense, that was probably our biggest focus for tonight," head coach Megan Bartlett said. "If we're going to win championships, we've got to be exceptional on the mound and we have to play excellent defense, so I was happy to see that happening."
Savannah Price opened the scoring in the third inning by belting a double down the right field line. A few batters later Price was brought in to score the first run of the game with a Makenna Harper sacrifice fly to give ASU a 1-0 lead.
To kick off the fourth inning, the South Mountain shortstop had an error in shallow left center that allowed Halle Harger to reach first base. Harger advanced to second via a VanHook walk, then touched home thanks to Alexa Milius singling. The Devils would add one more run in the inning with a Jazmine Hill sacrifice fly, making the game 3-0, Sun Devils.
Emily Cazares smacked a triple off of the right field wall, then right away Vanhook hit a single to center field which brought Cazares in to make the game 4-0 after the fifth inning.
In the sixth inning, Kenzie Brown reached third after an error by the South Mountain left-fielder which brought her to third base. Then after two batters, freshman Yannixa Acuña punched a triple down the left-field line which scored Brown. Then Hill was able to bring in Acuña with a grounder down the middle of the field to make it 6-0 after six innings.
A four-run seventh inning for the Sun Devils saw Brown, Shannon Cunningham, Halle Harger and Savannah Price make it 10-0 for the Sun Devils to win the first local-team game of the fall season.
The Sun Devils are back in action next week. They head to Phoenix to take on Grand Canyon on Wednesday, Oct. 5 at 6 p.m.
Fans can keep up with all the action from the Sun Devil's fall activities by following @ASUSoftball on Twitter and Facebook and SunDevilSB on Instagram.
2022 Fall Ball Schedule
Maroon & Gold Series Scrimmage Dates:
Sept 22nd Maroon & Gold Series Game 1 (Maroon 8, Gold 2)
Oct. 21st Maroon & Gold Series Game 2 @ 6pm
Nov. 10th Maroon & Gold Series Game 3 @ 6pm
Local Team Schedule:
Sept. 30th ASU vs South Mountain @ 6pm (ASU 10, South Mountain 0)
Oct. 5th ASU at GCU @ 6pm
Oct. 14th ASU vs Phoenix College @ 6pm
Oct. 26th ASU vs GCU @ 6pm
Quotes
Graduate student pitcher Marissa Schuld
On team's mentality
"Honestly it's been a good attitude and just trying to bring everybody together. Obviously, it's a new team so it's changed across the board for all of us, even the returners, so just trying our best to mesh as well as we can. Building each other up, confidence."
Head coach Megan Bartlett
On playing first game against a true opponent
"It was really nice and super fun. I thought the pitchers did an outstanding job, they collectively threw a no-hitter, made no errors on defense and I thought we continued to grind and make adjustments at the plate. When they did immediately, they didn't come out immediately and score six runs in the first inning like we got a little bit tired. They settled in and they picked better pitches and got better and did some good things on the bases, too."
On what one thing she learned from the team tonight
"I think they're good kids and they're coachable. We're really working with them in the process and taking pitches one pitch at a time and not getting so caught up in the results. Being on time, driving in the middle of the field. I'm hoping that by Wednesday they find a little bit of their feistiness because that's part of their superpower."
On team bonding:
"Every week it gets a little bit better, we've finally had seven or eight days of practice. They've had a little bit more time to spend some fun and thoughtful time together as a group off the field. It's just one of those things that I think the kids are open to and mindful of since we have 11 new ones between the transfers and the freshman."
"The pitchers have continued to settle in and we played clean defense, that was probably our biggest focus for tonight," head coach Megan Bartlett said. "If we're going to win championships, we've got to be exceptional on the mound and we have to play excellent defense, so I was happy to see that happening."
Savannah Price opened the scoring in the third inning by belting a double down the right field line. A few batters later Price was brought in to score the first run of the game with a Makenna Harper sacrifice fly to give ASU a 1-0 lead.
To kick off the fourth inning, the South Mountain shortstop had an error in shallow left center that allowed Halle Harger to reach first base. Harger advanced to second via a VanHook walk, then touched home thanks to Alexa Milius singling. The Devils would add one more run in the inning with a Jazmine Hill sacrifice fly, making the game 3-0, Sun Devils.
Emily Cazares smacked a triple off of the right field wall, then right away Vanhook hit a single to center field which brought Cazares in to make the game 4-0 after the fifth inning.
In the sixth inning, Kenzie Brown reached third after an error by the South Mountain left-fielder which brought her to third base. Then after two batters, freshman Yannixa Acuña punched a triple down the left-field line which scored Brown. Then Hill was able to bring in Acuña with a grounder down the middle of the field to make it 6-0 after six innings.
A four-run seventh inning for the Sun Devils saw Brown, Shannon Cunningham, Halle Harger and Savannah Price make it 10-0 for the Sun Devils to win the first local-team game of the fall season.
The Sun Devils are back in action next week. They head to Phoenix to take on Grand Canyon on Wednesday, Oct. 5 at 6 p.m.
Fans can keep up with all the action from the Sun Devil's fall activities by following @ASUSoftball on Twitter and Facebook and SunDevilSB on Instagram.
2022 Fall Ball Schedule
Maroon & Gold Series Scrimmage Dates:
Sept 22nd Maroon & Gold Series Game 1 (Maroon 8, Gold 2)
Oct. 21st Maroon & Gold Series Game 2 @ 6pm
Nov. 10th Maroon & Gold Series Game 3 @ 6pm
Local Team Schedule:
Sept. 30th ASU vs South Mountain @ 6pm (ASU 10, South Mountain 0)
Oct. 5th ASU at GCU @ 6pm
Oct. 14th ASU vs Phoenix College @ 6pm
Oct. 26th ASU vs GCU @ 6pm
Quotes
Graduate student pitcher Marissa Schuld
On team's mentality
"Honestly it's been a good attitude and just trying to bring everybody together. Obviously, it's a new team so it's changed across the board for all of us, even the returners, so just trying our best to mesh as well as we can. Building each other up, confidence."
Head coach Megan Bartlett
On playing first game against a true opponent
"It was really nice and super fun. I thought the pitchers did an outstanding job, they collectively threw a no-hitter, made no errors on defense and I thought we continued to grind and make adjustments at the plate. When they did immediately, they didn't come out immediately and score six runs in the first inning like we got a little bit tired. They settled in and they picked better pitches and got better and did some good things on the bases, too."
On what one thing she learned from the team tonight
"I think they're good kids and they're coachable. We're really working with them in the process and taking pitches one pitch at a time and not getting so caught up in the results. Being on time, driving in the middle of the field. I'm hoping that by Wednesday they find a little bit of their feistiness because that's part of their superpower."
On team bonding:
"Every week it gets a little bit better, we've finally had seven or eight days of practice. They've had a little bit more time to spend some fun and thoughtful time together as a group off the field. It's just one of those things that I think the kids are open to and mindful of since we have 11 new ones between the transfers and the freshman."