No. 22 Sun Devils Take Two on Opening Day

SAN DIEGO – The first day of the 2023 softball season looked a lot like years past as the Sun Devils secured a pair of victories at the SDSU Season Kickoff. No. 22 Arizona State woke up late to rally past CSUN 6-3 in eight innings to start the festivities. The Sun Devils (2-0) then spoiled San Diego State's party with an 8-2 win to close the day and give Megan Bartlett a 2-0 start as head coach at ASU.

SUN DEVILS 6, MATADORS 3 (8 innings)
In the opener against CSUN (0-1), the Sun Devils overcame a 3-0 deficit with six unanswered runs to win in extras. Makenna Harper had two triples and drove in four runs, with Marissa Schuld allowing just one hit in 3.1 innings of relief to earn the win.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Trailing 3-0 in the top of the sixth, Harper tripled home Emily Cazares and Jazmine Hill with one out to cut the deficit to one.
• Sara Kinch then hit a sacrifice fly that scored Harper to tie the game.
• Schuld would strand runners in scoring position in the sixth and seventh to get the game to extras.
• Schuld then singled to start the eighth and advanced the ghost runner Hill to third.
• Harper followed with her second two-run triple of the day to give ASU its first lead of the game.
• Kinch added her second RBI of the game with a single through the left side.
• Schuld closed out the win by forcing three CSUN pop-ups in the bottom of the frame.
• Freshman Kylee Magee started in the circle and struck out six in 4.2 innings.

Two-tun triple from @makennaharp makes this one interesting.

T6: ASU 2 | CSUN 3#ForksUp /// #O2V pic.twitter.com/1dlKe2HvS9

— Sun Devil Softball (@ASUSoftball) February 9, 2023

SUN DEVILS 8, AZTECS 2
The long ball returned against San Diego State (1-1) as ASU hit four home runs in one of the deepest parks in the country. The pitching was just as solid in holding SDSU to only three singles.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Leading 1-0 in the top of the second, Yanni Acuña hit a 2-run home run to left center for her first of the season.
• Cazares went back-to-back with a blast to right that made it 4-0.
• Shannon Cunningham delivered a 2-run double in the top of the third inning to start her career with three straight hits.
• After SDSU snuck a run across in the bottom of the fourth, Jazmyn Rollin homered to right to start the fifth.
• Two batters later, Jordyn VanHook hit her first home run since 2021 with a blast to right.
• Mac Osborne left the circle, allowing one run on one hit with three strikeouts in 4.0 innings to earn her first win as a Sun Devil.
• Kenzie Brown had four strikeouts – including striking out the side in the sixth – in her two innings.
• Schuld worked the seventh with one strikeout.

We're going back-to-back ????@emilyyycazares extends our lead ??

T2: ASU 4 /// SDSU 0#ForksUp /// #O2V pic.twitter.com/5Mp4oEoQh5

— Sun Devil Softball (@ASUSoftball) February 10, 2023

NOTABLE

• Harper is the first player in program history with two triples in the same game dating back to the 2007 season with available game records.
• Game one was the sixth time Harper has driven in at least four runs in a game during her career.
• With a hit in both games, Acuña extended her hitting streak from the end of last season to a career-best 10 games.
• In earning the win against CSUN, Schuld has now won nine straight decisions dating back to March 4, 2022.
• Osborne won her third straight decision going back to March 9, 2022, when she pitched for Virginia Tech.
• The four home runs against San Diego State is the team's first since April 15, 2022, against Utah.
• Bartlett is the fourth straight ASU coach to win their first two games.

UP NEXT
The Sun Devils take to the field twice on Friday at the SDSU Season Kickoff. They will start at 3 p.m. MST against Northern Illinois before facing Notre Dame at 5:30 p.m. MST. Game times are tentative as two games are being played prior to the ASU games. Follow @ASUSoftball on Twitter for the most up to date information.