TUCSON, Ariz. – Despite Sun Devil Softball being in prime position to take the weekend series over its in-state rival, Arizona broke the heart of Arizona State with a two-out, seventh-inning infield single to even the three-game series with a 9-8 outcome.
Copying Arizona State’s game plan from Friday night’s game, Arizona ran out to a quick 8-0 lead after three innings on the heels of a five-run bottom of the third.
But Arizona State didn’t go quietly into the night.
The Sun Devils plated five runs in a fourth inning that was highlighted by a three-run home run off the bat of Brooklyn Ulrich. ASU scored two more in the fifth to draw to within one, before Ashleigh Mejia tied the game with a solo home run in the top of the sixth.
The teams combined to retire the next nine consecutive batters following Mejia’s home run, until Arizona’s Grace Jenkins led off the bottom of the seventh with a single to left-center field. Kiki Escobar immediately entered the game as a pinch runner and worked her way over to third following a one-out single squeezed between a pair of flyouts.
Addison Duke was hit by an Aissa Silva (8-2) pitch to load the bases with two away and bring Regan Shockey, the Wildcats’ leadoff batter to the plate.
After watching the first pitch go outside of the strike zone, Shockey pounded Silva’s 1-0 pitch into the cement-like dirt in front of home plate that Ulrich was unable to gather the softball, allowing Escobar to score from third.
FROM HEAD COACH MEGAN BARTLETT
“Softball is a game of momentum, and we had a lot of it last night. We just had a little bit of a slow start today and then, once we started hitting a couple of pitches, we were able to take control of the momentum and made a run of it there at the end. I really thought we were going to be able to pull that one out, but, unfortunately, we couldn’t. But I was still incredibly proud of how the girls fought and made nice adjustments as the game went on.”
GAME NOTES
- With her sixth-inning solo home run on Saturday night, Ashleigh Mejia hit a home run in back-to-back games for the first time in her Sun Devil softball career.
- Meika Lauppe and Aissa Silva combined to make Arizona State the second opposing pitching staff (Texas Tech) to strikeout Arizona’s Sereniti Trice multiple times during the same game.
- Arizona State applied so much offensive pressure on the Wildcat defense that Arizona was credited with a season-high three defensive miscues.
UP NEXT
Arizona State (23-8, 3-5) and Arizona (22-8, 5-3) will wrap up their three-game conference series on Sunday, March 22, when the two teams square off at Rite Hillenbrand Stadium at 12 p.m. MST.
FOLLOW US
For the latest information on the team, follow @SunDevilSoftball on X, Facebook and Instagram. General athletic news can also be found at @TheSunDevils on X, Instagram and Facebook.