ORLANDO, Fla. – Kenzie Brown pitched a three-hit shutout, and Ashleigh Mejia hit a three-run home run as Sun Devil Softball opened its Big 12 series at UCF with a 3-0 win on Friday night.
Brown continued her hot start to conference play with 10 strikeouts, including her 100th of the season in the third inning. She retired 10 of the 11 hitters she faced from the first through fourth innings. UCF was 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position, and only once had a runner reach third base.
ASU was getting runners on base and threatening to score at the plate, but they continued to be one hit shy of breaking through. That changed in the fifth with a leadoff double from Tiare Ho-Ching and a walk by Lillian Holtje, setting up the heroics from Mejia. She took the first pitch of the at-bat over the wall in right-center to provide all the offense the team would need.
Mejia also singled in the game and joined the 3-for-3 AJ Murphy as the only Sun Devils with multiple hits in the win.
Notable
Game two of the series with UCF is slated for Saturday at 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. AZT. The game will air live on ESPN+.
Brown continued her hot start to conference play with 10 strikeouts, including her 100th of the season in the third inning. She retired 10 of the 11 hitters she faced from the first through fourth innings. UCF was 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position, and only once had a runner reach third base.
ASU was getting runners on base and threatening to score at the plate, but they continued to be one hit shy of breaking through. That changed in the fifth with a leadoff double from Tiare Ho-Ching and a walk by Lillian Holtje, setting up the heroics from Mejia. She took the first pitch of the at-bat over the wall in right-center to provide all the offense the team would need.
Mejia also singled in the game and joined the 3-for-3 AJ Murphy as the only Sun Devils with multiple hits in the win.
Notable
- Kenzie Brown recorded her 100th strikeout of the season in the third inning. She is the first Sun Devil since 2021 to have 100 in a season since Allison Royalty in 2021.
- Brown reached the milestone in 59.1 innings. Only Katie Burkhart (2006, 2007, 2008) did it in fewer innings.
- Brown ended the game with 10 strikeouts for her fourth double-digit strikeout outing of the season.
- Ashleigh Mejia hit her sixth home run of the season in the fifth inning. It was her fifth to tie or give ASU the lead.
- Tanya Windle singled in the first inning to extend her hitting streak to 12 games.
Game two of the series with UCF is slated for Saturday at 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. AZT. The game will air live on ESPN+.