This article was originally published on March 4, 2023
It was two opposite performances for the Sun Devils on day one of the Sun Devil Classic.
Arizona State (12-3) put on a strong showing against New Mexico (8-11) in their first game winning 6-2. But their second game against Charlotte (10-5) is where it started to turn for the worst in an 11-5 defeat.
The Sun Devils were in an early deficit after allowing six Niners to score in the bottom of the second. Sloppy play was a problem for the Devils all game. Of the eleven runs scored by Charlotte, none of them were earned. Through errors, passed balls and a few wild pitches, the Sun Devils just couldn’t catch a break.
The starter for game two, sophomore pitcher Kenzie Brown didn’t make it through the second. After three hits, a walk and a hit batter, ASU coach Megan Bartlett pulled the right-hander in order to send out junior Mac Osborne, who would finish the game.
“So, the blessing and the curse of someone who can you know, break a drop ball over ten inches is that sometimes she gets erratic right? And really she physically can get it back. It’s can she calm herself down mentally and emotionally quick enough and I think she did a nice job actually,” Bartlett said.
The offense for the Sun Devils was still productive with five runs, but it was not enough to even make up half of the six-run deficit they ended the game with.
Senior infielder Jordyn VanHook continued to lead the way on offense, recording multiple hits in both games including a second inning leadoff home run to get the Sun Devils on the board.
Against New Mexico along with VanHook, graduate outfielder Yannira Acuña and senior outfielder Jazmine Hill also had multiple hits. The Sun Devils scored a run in every inning they played, which was more than enough runs with a solid pitching performance by freshman Kylee Magee, junior Deborah Jones, and graduate Marissa Schuld.
The pitching had to work in and out of jams all day and it was no different for Jones in game one, who had the bases loaded with no outs. The junior managed to get out of it only allowing one run before Schuld took over the next inning to close out the game.
“I actually thought in game one we showed some nice kind of defensive savvy in those moments which, it’ll serve us well in the long run.” Bartlett said on the young pitching staff, “But if we could preferably stop putting ourselves in that jam with a couple walks, that would be better. But again just something that a pitching staff, they’re young and have to work through.”
The Sun Devils won’t have much time to dwell on the loss, going in to another doubleheader on Saturday facing Michigan State and Boise State. Game one against MSU is set to start at 4 p.m.
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