COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Saturday afternoon’s 4-3 win over No. 17/16 Texas A&M for Sun Devil Softball was bookmarked by strikeouts of Kennedy Powell from Arizona State starting pitcher Kenzie Brown. And in between Brown’s pair of swinging strikeouts was a roller coaster of emotions.
It started in the bottom of the first when Brown (16-6) was called for an illegal pitch – the first in 2,688 pitches thrown by Brown in 32 pitching appearances during the 2026 season – to erase an 0-2 count on Micaela Wark. On the very next pitch, Wark hit a 1-1 pitch 218 feet for a two-run home run for give Texas A&M an early two-run lead.
The two-run lead was short lived, though, as Katie Chester hit the eighth pitch of the top of the second 236 feet for a game-tying, two-run home run that scored Emily Schepp, who led off the inning with a single.
Brown and Sidne Peters (15-6) settled down following the two-run home runs by tossing scoreless thirds.
Arizona State appeared in prime position to take its first lead of the game when Schepp – double – and Chester – walk – successfully reached base to open the top of the fourth. But the pair of Sun Devils were stranded as Ashleigh Mejia, Yannixa Acuña and Brooklyn Ulrich were all retired.
The Aggies took advantage of the momentum by taking a 3-2 lead in the bottom half of the frame on a run-scoring ground out off the bat of Kelsey Mathis to plate Hailey Golden.
Again, the Sun Devils had a pair of base runners reach in the top of the fifth, but an inning-ending ground out to third halted the scoring threat. The exact same thing happened to Texas A&M in the bottom of the fifth when Tallen Edwards hit into an inning-ending double play as the Aggies had runners on the corners.
Following a scoreless sixth inning, Arizona State entered the top of the seventh trailing by a one with only three outs remaining.
Ulrich set the tone by beating a throw to second base – that was confirmed by video replay – for a double to start the inning. Nehanda Lewis immediately entered the game as a pinch runner and advanced to third base as Tiare Ho-Ching, who recorded her first career multi-home run game less than 24 hours ago, laid down a first-pitch sacrifice bunt.
After Tanya Windle was hit by a pitch, Kaylee Pond sent a 0-1 pitch into left field to score Lewis and take the game.
Like Windle, Samantha Swan was hit by the fourth pitch from Taylor Pannell, who entered the game for Peters after Pond’s hit, to load the bases for Emily Schepp with only one away.
Schepp, a first-year Sun Devil, gave Arizona State its first lead of the contest when she drove in Windle from third on a ground ball up the middle.
Returning to the circle with a one-run lead, it took Brown just 13 pitches to not only add a pair of strikeouts to her game total but also shut the door and seal the ASU victory.
GAME NOTES
- With her second-inning home run, Katie Chester became the fifth different Sun Devil to have a 20-home run season.
- Chester (20) joins Cydney Sanders (21, 2022), Kaitlin Cochran (20, 2009), Cheyenne Coyle (20, 2013) and Maddi Hackbarth (20, 2021) as the only Arizona State softball student-athletes to hit 20-or-more home runs during a single season.
- Sanders holds the program’s single-season home run mark at 21.
- By getting hit by an 0-1 pitch during her third inning plate appearance, Kaylee Pond has now been hit with 13 pitches this season, which is tied for the fifth most by a Sun Devil during a single season.
- Pond (13) tied Tiare Ho-Ching (13, 2025) and Kaitlin Cochran (13, 2007 and 2008) on the program’s single-season hit by pitches list.
- Yannira Acuña holds the program’s single-season hit by pitch mark with 20 during the 2022 campaign.
- With the win, Arizona State now has 43 wins on the season, tied with the 2022 team (43-11) for the third-most wins by a Sun Devil over the last 13 seasons.
- Pond (13) tied Tiare Ho-Ching (13, 2025) and Kaitlin Cochran (13, 2007 and 2008) on the program’s single-season hit by pitches list.
- Chester (20) joins Cydney Sanders (21, 2022), Kaitlin Cochran (20, 2009), Cheyenne Coyle (20, 2013) and Maddi Hackbarth (20, 2021) as the only Arizona State softball student-athletes to hit 20-or-more home runs during a single season.
UP NEXT
With the win, Arizona State (43-16) moves into the championship game of the NCAA Bryan-College Station Regional and will play the winner of Saturday’s consolation bracket at 2 p.m. CDT / 12 p.m. MST on Sunday, May 17.
The Sun Devils need only one win on Sunday to win the regional, while the team that comes out of the consolation bracket needs to beat ASU twice to win the regional.
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