HOUSTON – When Kenzie Brown needed her offense the most, her teammates stepped up with a three-run top of the seventh to take a lead that Brown did not surrender as Sun Devil Softball opened its three-game conference series at Houston with a 5-2 win on Friday night.
Despite surrendering a solo home run to start the bottom of the second, Brown bounced back with three consecutive scoreless frames, before the Cougars managed to tie the game, 2-2, in the bottom of the sixth on an unearned run.
Looking for its first run since a two-out solo home run off the bat of Emily Schepp in the top of the third, Arizona State sent nine batters to the dish throughout the top of the seventh in an attempt to respond to Houston’s game-tying run in the sixth.
It took just three batters before the Sun Devils re-took the lead on a Kaylee Pond sacrifice fly to left-center field to score Corie Shull from third. Samantha Swan made it 4-2, Arizona State, by following with a double to the left-center field gap that scored Tanya Windle from second base.
With runners at second and third and one away, Schepp drove in her second run of the contest on a RBI groundout to second base that gave the Sun Devils a three-run lead, their largest of the contest.
Now pitching with a three-run advantage, Brown (11-5) returned to the circle to strike out two of the four batters faced in the bottom of the seventh. She also worked around a one-out bloop single into shallow center field with a flyout to Pond to close the door on the evening.
GAME NOTES
- With her strikeout of RyLee Gardner for the first out of the sixth inning, Kenzie Brown recorded her 10th strikeout of the contest.
- The 10-strikeout performance on Friday night gave Brown her fourth consecutive start with 10-or-more strikeouts, the longest such streak of her collegiate softball career.
- With her swipe of second base in the top of the seventh, Tanya Windle tied Samantha Swan for the team lead with nine stolen bases this season.
- By scoring Corie Shull from third base in the top of the seventh, Kaylee Pond was credited with her team-leading fourth sacrifice fly, breaking a tie with Emily Schepp.
- As a result of her run-scoring double in the top of the seventh, Samantha Swan extended her active hitting streak to 11 consecutive games, which is tied with Ashleigh Mejia for the third-longest hitting streak by a Sun Devil this season.
- The double was also Swan’s second hit of the contest, marking her team-leading 18th multi-hit game of the season.
- Arizona State’s three stolen bases on Friday night were the most by the Sun Devils in a game this season since Sunday, March 28, when ASU stole three bases against Marist.
- Friday night’s contest at Houston marked the first time Tanya Windle has played a defensive position since playing left field against ASU’s 9-2 win over UNLV on Friday, Feb. 27, 2026.
UP NEXT
Arizona State (33-13, 6-10) will look to earn another Big 12 series win on the season when the Sun Devils return to the diamond at Cougar Softball Stadium for a 12 p.m. CDT / 10 a.m. MST first pitch against Houston (20-26, 3-16) on Saturday, April 18.
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