IRVING, Texas – Following a weekend that saw Kenzie Brown go toe-to-toe against three regular NCAA postseason programs, the Big 12 Conference named the Arizona State fifth-year senior right-hander as the league’s pitcher of the week.
Brown becomes the first student-athlete in program history to earn a Big 12 weekly honor. She’s also ASU’s first conference pitcher of the week since May 9, 2022, when Lindsay Lopez was selected by the Pac-12. Overall, Brown is the 14th different Sun Devil in program history to be selected as a league’s pitcher of the week.
In three appearances during the Sun Devils’ season-opening weekend, Brown threw 13.1 innings, struck out 26 batters, issued four walks, scattered four hits – one single, one double, one triple and one home run – and allowed just two (earned) runs. She threw 220 total pitches to 50 batters.
In a much-anticipated showdown against then-No. 3/3 Oklahoma on Thursday, Feb. 5, Brown, tabbed a preseason All-American by D1Softball and Softball America, struck out 13 of 29 Sooners in seven innings of work. She became the first opposing pitcher to strikeout 10-or-more (13) OU batters in a single game since Texas’ Citlaly Gutierrez fanned 10 in the Big 12 Championship game on May 11, 2024. Brown was also the first opposing pitcher to strikeout 10-or-more (13) Oklahoma batters during a regular season road game for the Sooners since playing at Northwestern on March 1, 2020.
And speaking of the Wildcats, Brown was nearly perfect against -/RV Northwestern two days later as the Lake City, Ill., native took a perfect game into the top of the fifth before surrendering a leadoff single down the third base line. It was one of just two hits allowed by Brown in six innings of work as she struck out 12 opposing batters and did not issue a walk after throwing 96 pitches before the game ended during the bottom of the sixth due to an ASU eight-run victory.
The two starts marked the first time Brown has struck out double-digit opposing batters in back-to-back home starts since April 4, 2025 (16 strikeouts in seven innings against Kansas) and April 6, 2025 (13 strikeouts in seven innings against Kansas).
In between her two starts over the weekend, Brown, who entered the game with two outs and the potential game-tying runner on base, also earned her first save of the season when she struck out Texas State’s Keely Williams to end the contest.
Up next
Arizona State (4-1) will return to action on Thursday, Feb. 12, when the Sun Devils take on Portland State (2-3) at 3:30 p.m. MST at Farrington Stadium as part of a five-team Littlewood Invitational also involving Indiana, Nevada and Pacific.
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