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Sammy Smash: Swan drives in six runs in No. 23 Softball’s mercy-rule victory

Samantha Swan (6) joins Ashleigh Mejia (8) and Katie Chester (5) with a 5-plus RBI game in 2026

Sammy Smash: Swan drives in six runs in No. 23 Softball’s mercy-rule victorySammy Smash: Swan drives in six runs in No. 23 Softball’s mercy-rule victory

Samantha Swan squares up a pitch for her first career grand slam.

by Chris Brown
Box Score

TEMPE – Chapel Hill, N.C.; Lawrence, Kan.; or Tempe, Ariz. It doesn’t matter where the Sun Devil Softball program plays, Samantha Swan is going to get a base hit.

Even though it took Arizona State only five innings to put the finishing touches on a 13-0 win over UTEP on Tuesday, the four offensive innings for the Sun Devils provided more than enough time for the third-year Sun Devil catcher to leave her mark on the game.

On the 20th pitch in the bottom of the first, Swan sent a 2-2 pitch in the left-centerfield gap to score Ashleigh Mejia from third and Katie Chester from second to extend a one-run ASU lead out to a three-run advantage for the Sun Devils. Swan, moments later, made it 4-0, Arizona State, when she scored on an Emily Schepp double, the third consecutive run-scoring double (Chester, Swan, Schepp) and the third of four consecutive run-scoring hits as Brooklyn Ulrich followed with a single through the left side.

After surrendering a five-run bottom of the first, UTEP opted to bring in Ryann Presswood to face the Arizona State offense as the top of the lineup was due up.

And the top of the lineup did exactly what it’s meant to do: get on base.

After Tanya Windle grounded out to second, Kaylee Pond and Mejia recorded back-to-back hits before Chester drew a four-pitch walk.

In stepped Swan, who saw two pitches before turning around a 1-1 pitch 228 feet for her first career grand slam to ballooning the Sun Devils’ lead out to 9-0 through two innings played.

Swan’s seventh home run on the season was her last offensive action of the contest as freshman Brooke Piwowar replaced Swan behind the plate at the top of the fourth. Defensively, Swan and Arizona State starting pitcher Kenzie Brown (8-4) worked together to retire nine of the 11 batters Brown faced. The senior right-hander did not surrender a hit and struck out five in three innings of work, before giving way to Aissa Silva and Meika Lauppe, who tossed a scoreless fourth and fifth inning, respectively.

FROM HEAD COACH MEGAN BARTLETT

“It's great momentum. We always welcome momentum. We talk about confidence and belief; this can be a really dangerous ball club. It’s a round bat and round ball; it's a game of millimeters and sometimes teams get into those ruts once in a while. We just have to catch momentum and put all the pieces together at once. Once we do that, this ball club will get dangerous quick."

FROM JUNIOR CATCHER SAMANTHA SWAN

“I just tried to keep it simple. We came off a tough loss to Kansas, so we were just trying to get back on top and get back on the grind. Yeah, it was good.

GAME NOTES

  • Tuesday’s game marked the first appearance for Arizona State’s Tanya Windle since leaving the Sun Devils’ 9-2 win over UNLV on Friday, Feb. 27.
    • Windle, in her return, went 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored.
      • As a result of her first-inning double, Windle extended her hitting streak to a team-high 12 straight games despite missing the entire month of March.
    • Playing in her 61st career collegiate softball game, first-year Sun Devil Millie Roberts connected for her first career home run when she hit a 2-1 pitch 235 feet during a three-run, two-hit bottom of the fourth that pushed Arizona State’s lead out from 10-0 to 13-0.
    • In five combined innings pitched across two appearances against UTEP this season, ASU’s senior right-handed pitcher Kenzie Brown has struck out 11 of 17 Miners faced.
      • Additionally, Brown has not allowed a hit or a run scored against a UTEP batter.

UP NEXT

Following Tuesday’s non-conference contest against UTEP, Arizona State (30-11, 4-8) will return to Big 12 Conference action on Friday, April 10, when the Sun Devils take on No. 25/22 UCF (30-10-1, 8-6-1) at 6 p.m. MST at Farrington Stadium.

FOLLOW US

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