TEMPE – Sun Devil Softball opened their eight-game week at Farrington Stadium by sweeping the UTEP Miners in a doubleheader that saw two different types of games. ASU used hot bats in the first game to earn a 13-12 win before leaning on graduate Marissa Schuld's arm to secure a 3-0 shutout in the nightcap.
The day's results move the Sun Devils to 7-4 on the season, with six games on tap during the weekend's Sun Devil Classic.
Game One: Arizona State 13, UTEP 12
The Sun Devils opened up the doubleheader with a 13-12 victory over the Miners. ASU notched 13 hits, including Alesia Denby's fifth home run of the season and Kayla Lissy's first triple since the 2022 season.
Every starter had a hit in the game except for Kelsey Hall, and she finished with three walks, a sacrifice fly, and three runs scored. Four players recorded multiple hits in the win, while Dendy and Lissy each had three RBIs.
Deborah Jones earned her first win of the season by working 5.1 innings of relief and posting four strikeouts.
How it Happened
Following the offensive explosion of the first game, it was the pitching that dominated the nightcap. Schuld held UTEP to four hits in posting her second career shutout. ASU posted six hits, with none bigger than a two-run double from Makenzie Macfarlane in the sixth.
Hall and Yannixa Acuña each had two hits, with Samantha Swan driving home the first run of the game.
How it Happened
Arizona State Head Coach Megan Bartlett
On Marissa Schuld's performance tonight
"It was really good for her. We've asked Marissa (Schuld) to do so many things here, and in the past couple of years, she's gone between being the closer and starting games. And she's a two-way player, so she spends a lot of time hitting. As a coach, sometimes you ask so much of really great athletes, and they can get overwhelmed in moments, but she pitched beautifully tonight."
On getting on the right track today for the rest of the week ahead
"It was a great day. Two wins over anyone, especially a good Conference USA team, will certainly put a little wind in our sails heading into the weekend because we have a tough Texas State team rolling in here tomorrow night. They are a year-in and year-out postseason team. It will be a really good battle here tomorrow night"
Arizona State catcher Makenzie Macfarlane
On the team's mentality going into this next stretch of games
"We know it's going to be tough, and we're just leaning on each other. With our roster and stuff right now, we are using everybody at any point. We all know that we're going to get our time called at some point or another, so we're all just ready to go."
On the growth since the start of the season
"I think that we have grown so much, even just after the first two tournaments, and I can't wait to see what we do this weekend."
Arizona State pitcher Marissa Schuld
On her complete game
"I felt really good. I was just trying to attack the zone, and I knew my defense was behind me to make a play. I think just trusting my pitches and throwing my pitches with conviction."
On her mindset going into these games
"I think I just trust my stuff. You guys can see that I have a new wind-up and some new pitches this year. I think just mentally trusting my stuff and having an approach to attack the zone."
Up Next
ASU will open the Sun Devil Classic on Friday at 5 p.m. against Texas State. The first of six games over the weekend will be available on the ASU Live Stream.
The day's results move the Sun Devils to 7-4 on the season, with six games on tap during the weekend's Sun Devil Classic.
Game One: Arizona State 13, UTEP 12
The Sun Devils opened up the doubleheader with a 13-12 victory over the Miners. ASU notched 13 hits, including Alesia Denby's fifth home run of the season and Kayla Lissy's first triple since the 2022 season.
Every starter had a hit in the game except for Kelsey Hall, and she finished with three walks, a sacrifice fly, and three runs scored. Four players recorded multiple hits in the win, while Dendy and Lissy each had three RBIs.
Deborah Jones earned her first win of the season by working 5.1 innings of relief and posting four strikeouts.
How it Happened
- UTEP collected two RBI singles in the opening frame, taking a 2-0 lead into the bottom half of the first.
- Denby evened the score at the bottom of the first with a two-run home run to right field, her fifth of the season.
- Later in the innings, Lissy delivered a sacrifice fly to give ASU a 3-2 advantage.
- The Miners responded by scoring four runs in the second inning and taking the lead back at 6-3.
- The Sun Devils put up seven runs and five hits in the third inning to grab the lead back for good.
- After Hall scored on an error, Lissy tripled in two runs to tie the game at 6-6.
- Jordyn VanHook broke the tie with an RBI single to right that scored Lissy.
- ASU added two more in the inning with an RBI single from Libby Walsh and a bases load walk by Denby.
- Shannon Cunningham sparked a three-run fifth for the Sun Devils with a two-run single, and then Hall scored on another UTEP error to open a 13-6 lead.
- One hit from a run-rule loss, the Miners fought back with two runs in the sixth and then a grand slam in the seventh to pull with 13-12.
- Jones then retired two straight to close out the victory.
Following the offensive explosion of the first game, it was the pitching that dominated the nightcap. Schuld held UTEP to four hits in posting her second career shutout. ASU posted six hits, with none bigger than a two-run double from Makenzie Macfarlane in the sixth.
Hall and Yannixa Acuña each had two hits, with Samantha Swan driving home the first run of the game.
How it Happened
- Swan's go-ahead single scored Acuña in the bottom of the second for the 1-0 ASU lead.
- UTEP threatened in the third and loaded the bases with an error, single, and walk before Schuld stranded the bases-loaded as the Sun Devils remained ahead 1-0.
- The Sun Devils had runners on second and third in the fourth frame but were unable to extend their lead.
- Hall led off the Sun Devil's sixth with a single and was sacrificed to second by Cunningham.
- Lissy would draw a two-out walk to put two on with two out in the inning.
- Macfarlane stepped up as a pinch-hitter and knocked a two-RBI double to give the Sun Devils a 3-0 lead heading into the seventh.
- Schuld remained relentless in the circle by throwing a perfect seventh inning, ending with her second strikeout of the game to sweep the doubleheader and secure her first win of the season.
- The Sun Devil's seven-run third inning in game one of the doubleheader marked the third time this season the maroon & gold have scored five-plus runs in an inning.
- The 13 hits in game one are the most in a game this season and the fourth with 10-plus
- Denby took the Pac-12 home run lead with her fifth of the season in game one.
- Denby moved into a tie for the conference lead with 14 RBIs behind her fifth multi-RBI game this year.
- With her walk in game two, Denby extended her run of reaching base in all 11 games this season.
- Lissy's triple in the opener was the 12th of her career and first since April 1, 2022, for Ball State against Kent State. She is now tied for 11th among active NCAA players in career triples.
- With her third run scored in the first game, Hall has now scored 100 runs in her career.
- The 5.1 innings from Jones marks her longest outing as a Sun Devil and the most she has thrown in a game since going 7.0 for Ball State against Akron on May 7, 2022.
- Jones recorded her first win of the season and third as a Sun Devil.
- The sixth-inning strikeout of Idalis Mendez was No. 250 for Jones in her career.
- Acuña picked up another two hits in the nightcap for her third multi-hit game of the season. She also extended her hitting streak to five straight with a hit in both games.
- The shutout from Schuld was the second of her career and first since throwing a perfect game at Arizona on March 27, 2022. It was also her 18th career complete game.
Arizona State Head Coach Megan Bartlett
On Marissa Schuld's performance tonight
"It was really good for her. We've asked Marissa (Schuld) to do so many things here, and in the past couple of years, she's gone between being the closer and starting games. And she's a two-way player, so she spends a lot of time hitting. As a coach, sometimes you ask so much of really great athletes, and they can get overwhelmed in moments, but she pitched beautifully tonight."
On getting on the right track today for the rest of the week ahead
"It was a great day. Two wins over anyone, especially a good Conference USA team, will certainly put a little wind in our sails heading into the weekend because we have a tough Texas State team rolling in here tomorrow night. They are a year-in and year-out postseason team. It will be a really good battle here tomorrow night"
Arizona State catcher Makenzie Macfarlane
On the team's mentality going into this next stretch of games
"We know it's going to be tough, and we're just leaning on each other. With our roster and stuff right now, we are using everybody at any point. We all know that we're going to get our time called at some point or another, so we're all just ready to go."
On the growth since the start of the season
"I think that we have grown so much, even just after the first two tournaments, and I can't wait to see what we do this weekend."
Arizona State pitcher Marissa Schuld
On her complete game
"I felt really good. I was just trying to attack the zone, and I knew my defense was behind me to make a play. I think just trusting my pitches and throwing my pitches with conviction."
On her mindset going into these games
"I think I just trust my stuff. You guys can see that I have a new wind-up and some new pitches this year. I think just mentally trusting my stuff and having an approach to attack the zone."
Up Next
ASU will open the Sun Devil Classic on Friday at 5 p.m. against Texas State. The first of six games over the weekend will be available on the ASU Live Stream.