OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – And exhale.
That was the reaction throughout the Arizona State fanbase as Ashleigh Mejia hauled a Sydney Stewart – the newly appointed Big 12 Player of the Year – line out in the right-center field gap to seal Sun Devil Softball’s 2-1 win over No. 19/20 Arizona in the quarterfinals of the 2026 Big 12 Softball Tournament.
After Arizona State starting pitcher Kenzie Brown (14-6) and Arizona’s Jalen Adams (20-9) battled throughout the game’s first six innings and surrendered just two combined runs, the stage was set for an eventful seventh inning in a 1-1 game.
Moments after making a Derek Jeter-like running catch in foul territory behind the third base bag, Brooklyn Ulrich led off the top of the seventh by sending a 1-0 pitch from Adams 254 feet for a go-ahead solo home run, pushing the Sun Devils ahead, 2-1, heading into the bottom of the seventh.
Brown, who struck out 14 Wildcats over two regular season pitching appearances in March, returned to the pitching circle needing just three outs away from her second complete game victory against Arizona in 2026.
It took Brown six pitches to get the first out as Jenna Sniffen flew out to Kaylee Pond in centerfield.
Kez Lucas, after fouling off a 2-2 pitch, singled back up the middle to represent the Wildcats’ game-tying run.
Kiki Escobar, who entered the game as a pinch runner for Lucas, advanced to second base after Addison Duke drew a full-count walk, the first free pass surrendered by Brown all game. Regan Shockey, the Wildcats’ leadoff batter, loaded the bases with an infield single that was knocked down by Emily Schepp.
With the bases loaded and only one away in a one-run game, Brown struck out Sereniti Trice on four pitches for the second out, before forcing Stewart to fly out to Mejia in right field.
FROM HEAD COACH MEGAN BARTLETT
“I’m so proud of this entire team, but so so proud of Kenzie (Brown) and Brooklyn (Ulrich). These two are in their last month in a Sun Devil jersey and their performances tonight are how teams find ways to win in the postseason. It’s your veterans, it’s the kids who have been there, because they know they have to step up in big moments. My goodness, Kenzie and Brooklyn were incredible tonight.”
FROM SENIOR INFIELD BROOKLYN ULRICH
“I was coming into this game having watched film on how she beat me last time we played. (Jalen) is a very tough pitcher. Going into that last at bat, (Arizona State assistant coach Josh) Bloomer told me to take until I got a strike. I was like, ‘No, I got this, I can do this.’ He said, ‘I still want you to take until you get a change-up.’ And honestly, I didn’t realize the pitch was a change-up, but I was right on time for it.”
FROM SENIOR PITCHER KENZIE BROWN
“Yeah, I feel like I’m known for making a mess, then getting out of it. I have to stop doing that. But yeah, I feel like I try to be too perfect and sometimes I don’t realize how good my stuff is. So, I shook off what had already happened and said, ‘I need to get back to me’ and I did.”
GAME NOTES
- Emily Schepp’s leadoff double to begin the top of the second was just the second double by an Arizona State batter in the Sun Devils’ Big 12 Softball Tournament history.
- Samantha Swan recorded the first – and only – double for a Sun Devil prior to Thursday’s contest when the then-sophomore leadoff the top of the sixth – of ASU’s eventual 2-1 win over Oklahoma State on Thursday, My 8, 2025 – with a double.
- Thursday night’s contest between Arizona State and Arizona marked the first time the in-state rivals played each other in the state of Oklahoma since March 16, 1985, when the Sun Devils beat the Wildcats, 3-2, in the Sooner Tournament.
- Thursday’s win marked the first time Arizona State has beaten Arizona during the month of May since May 5, 2013, when the Sun Devils beat the Wildcats, 7-6, in Tucson.
- With the win on Thursday night, Arizona State has won multiple games against Arizona in the same season for the first time since sweep the three-game series over the Wildcats in Tucson in March 2022.
- Thursday’s game marked the first time over the course of the 2026 season that Arizona State did not allow a leadoff batter to reach base in any of the game’s seven innings.
- Arizona State’s Kenzie Brown joined Iowa State’s Lauren Schurman as the only opposing pitcher to hold Arizona’s Sydney Stewart 0-for-4 in a game this season.
- Schurman did so in the Wildcats’ 8-7 come-from-behind win against the Cyclones in Ames, Iowa on April 5, 2026.
UP NEXT
Arizona State (39-16) will be looking for its first 40-win season since the 2022 season when the Sun Devils return to OGE Energy Field at Devon Park on Friday, May 8, when ASU will square off against Oklahoma State (38-14) in the semifinals of the 2026 Big 12 Softball Tournament.
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