TUCSON, Ariz. – Spring Break for Arizona State University was last week, but the 2,700 fans at Hillenbrand Stadium on Friday night would’ve sworn it was this week the way softballs looked like beach balls to Sun Devil Softball batters throughout No. 20/RV ASU’s 16-3 win over No. 13/11 Arizona.
Throughout the game’s five innings – the shortest in a Sun Devil win over Arizona since March 27, 2022 – Arizona State combined to hit six home runs – the most in a single game since March 2021 – and be credited with 15 hits, tied for the most in a single game this season, during the 2-hour, 5-minute contest.
But it was Emily Schepp and her offensive performance at the plate in her return to Tucson that stole the show.
Using momentum created by a solo home run from Kaylee Pond on the first pitch of the game, Emily Schepp snapped out of a 2-for-17 stretch over her last five games with a three-run home run – her first home run since the bottom of the second against California Baptist on Feb. 21, 2026 – to balloon the Sun Devils’ early lead out to 4-0 before Kenzie Brown (5-3) even threw a pitch to a Wildcat batter.
By the time Schepp came back around to the dish to lead off the top of the third, Arizona State had doubled its lead out to 8-0 courtesy of a second-inning grand slam off the bat of Katie Chester.
But that didn’t stop Schepp, as the first-year Sun Devil sent the second pitch of her at bat to the left-center field gap for a double. The hit sparked a three-run, four-hit third for Arizona State to push out ASU’s lead out to double digits at 11-0.
Schepp’s next at bat? A second-pitch single through the left side to advance Samantha Swan, who led off the frame with a first-pitch double, to third. Both eventually came around to score during the inning to make it, 13-1, Sun Devils.
Needing just a triple for the cycle when she came back to the plate in the top of the fifth, Schepp opted instead to put an exclamation point on the game with her second home run of the game and the Sun Devils’ third of the inning after Ashleigh Mejia and Swan both hit solo home runs as well.
By the conclusion of Arizona State’s mercy-rule win over Arizona on Friday night, Schepp had set a new single-game career high in hits (4), home runs (2), runs (4) and total bases (10), while tying her single-game marks in RBI (4) and doubles (1).
From Head Coach Megan Bartlett
“I’m so proud of (Emily Schepp) tonight. I love Schepp. She is one of our hardest workers, a great teammate, a talented ball player and has been such a welcome addition the minute she arrived in Tempe. It just made my heart happy watch her show up and show out like that.”
From junior catcher Emily Schepp
“I was really just trying to simply my approach at the plate, swing at strikes and just being short to the ball.”
Game notes
- With four first-inning runs to begin Friday night’s game, it marked the most first-inning runs for the Sun Devils against Arizona since May 10, 2023, when Arizona State scored four in the first frame of a Pac-12 Softball Tournament contest between the two programs.
- Friday evening’s contest marked the first time since April 16, 2021, when Sun Devils scored one run in each of the first four innings en route to a 4-3 win over the Wildcats, that Arizona State scored at least one run in each of the first three innings of a game against Arizona.
- The 16 runs scored by Arizona State on Friday night were the most by the Sun Devils against Arizona since beating the Wildcats, 16-1, on Friday, April 6, 1973.
- With the win, fourth-year Arizona State softball head coach Megan Bartlett becomes the fifth head coach in program history to win 100-or-more games at the helm of the Sun Devil program.
- Friday’s win marked the first time Arizona State has won back-to-back matchups over Arizona since March 26 and March 27, 2022, when the Sun Devils won, 11-0 and 8-0, in five innings, respectively, in Tucson.
- The Sun Devils’ six home runs throughout Friday’s five-inning contest marked the most home runs by Arizona State in a single game since March 6, 2021, when ASU connected for six home runs at UTEP.
Up next
Arizona State (23-7, 3-4) will now look for its second consecutive ranked series win when the Sun Devils return to Mike Candrea Field at Rita Hillenbrand Stadium on Saturday, March 21, for a 6 p.m. MST matchup against the Wildcats (21-8, 4-3).
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