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Shull, No. 22/25 Sun Devils slide back into winner’s column

Arizona State is now 9-3 this season when Corie Shull scores a run

Shull, No. 22/25 Sun Devils slide back into winner’s columnShull, No. 22/25 Sun Devils slide back into winner’s column

Brooke Piwowar (sliding) scores ASU's sixth run during the Sun Devils' 7-3 win at NC State on Wednesday, March 25, 2026.

by Chris Brown
Box Score

RALEIGH, N.C. – A slide by redshirt freshman Corie Shull at home plate that freed the softball out of NC State catcher Ellington Whitaker’s glove not only broke a tie in the run column but also sparked a four-run top of the seventh inning that provided the different in No. 22/25 Sun Devil Softball’s 7-3 win on Wednesday night.

Looking to break the 3-3 tie, Ashleigh Mejia led off the top of the seventh by sending a 1-1 pitch into right field for her second base hit of the night. As NC State made a pitching – inserting Wynne Gore into the circle for starter Morgen Talley (8-4) and defensive – Whitaker taking over behind the plate for Carmen Montes de Oca – changes moments later, ASU head coach Megan Bartlett made a change of her own: inserting Shull into the game as pinch runner for Mejia.

And the wheels started to turn.

Two pitches later, Shull, representing the go-ahead run for the Sun Devils, successfully stole her first career base. She then moved up to third when Wolfpack shortstop Carly Short was unable to cleanly field a groundball off the bat of Emily Schepp.

Standing on third base as Ryan Brown, who hit a solo home run in the top of the third, stepped to the plate, Schull was minutes away from scoring her 12th run on the season.

Brown watched the first pitch sail out of the strike zone, before seeing the second pitch called a strike. On the third, she swung and hit a grounder to Lily Livingston at third base. Rather than opting to take a potential double play at second and first, Livingston elected to throw home to try to get Shull out at the plate.

But instead, Shull slide through a would-be tag by Whitaker and knocked the ball free, scoring the Sun Devils’ fifth run on the night.

The plate was the first of four consecutive run-scoring at bats by Arizona State as Yannixa Acuña, Brooklyn Ulrich and Tiare Ho-Ching all successfully drove in a run to balloon the Sun Devil lead. The four-run seventh was more than enough insurance for Kenzie Brown (6-3), who retired all nine batters she faced with seven coming via strikeout.  

FROM HEAD COACH MEGAN BARTLETT

“She’s a super-fast, decisive baserunner. She went into the plate hard and kicked the ball loose. Corie is like our good luck charm on the bases, so it was good to see."

FROM REDSHIRT FRESHMAN OUTFIELDER CORIE SHULL

“We were in downball read, so I just knew if it touched the ground, I had to go and had to get (home) and make sure I was safe. I think it really just got the rally started and got our dugout super hyped and really started the moment.”

GAME NOTES

  • Kaylee Pond’s sixth inning hit by pitch marked the third time during Wednesday night’s contest that an Arizona State batter was hit by a pitch, tying the team’s single-game high of hit by pitches set at Arizona on Friday, March 20.
  • With one out in the top of the seventh, redshirt freshman Corie Shull was credited with her first career stolen base when School, who entered the game to pinch run for Ashleigh Mejia, when she swiped second base on the first pitch to Emily Schepp.
  • Arizona State now moves to 15-3 on the season when hitting two-or-more home runs in a game following Katie Chester and Ryan Brown’s home runs during Wednesday’s contest.
  • The win also moves the Sun Devils to 18-2 this season when scoring first after Katie Chester’s two-run home run in the top of the first pushed Arizona State ahead before NC State came to the plate for the first time.
  • With her first-inning single, Ashleigh Mejia extended her on-base streak to 30 consecutive games, the longest by any Sun Devil student-athlete this season.

UP NEXT

Arizona State (24-9) will continue its longest road trip of the season as the Sun Devils now travel over Chapell Hill, N.C., where ASU will take on Marist (9 a.m. MST/ 12 p.m. EDT) and UNC (2 p.m. MST/5 p.m. EDT) on Friday, March 27.  

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