This article was originally published on April 15, 2023.
The Sun Devils took the field in bright pink jerseys for Cancer Awareness Night as Saturday was about more than just softball.
“It’s a lot, they’ve been through a lot, and I try to fight like them and take the field for them every day,” senior pitcher Marissa Schuld said.
The Sun Devils (21-15) struck first Saturday night, but only mustered up two runs behind Schuld’s career high, seven inning performance. The Ducks (27-11) scored in three different innings, collecting five runs to hand ASU its third straight loss.
“Hit my spots, different zones and spread the plate, that was my main goal,” Schuld said. “They’re a good team, so I’ll tip my cap to them.”
Schuld finished the night with four strikeouts over seven innings, allowing five earned runs on eight hits in her fifth career complete game. With the pitching short-staffed tonight, it was key for Schuld to go deep into the game.
“If you go out there and it’s max effort, at a 110%, and start walking people, and spraying the ball, that wasn’t going to work,” head coach Megan Bartlett said. “Seven innings against (No.) 18 in the country, I thought Marissa just threw a really good ball game; trusted in her stuff, moving off speed, landing the changeup. I was proud of her.”
The Sun Devils scored their second run in the bottom of the fifth inning. Senior outfielder Jazmine Hill delivered a pinch-hit RBI triple that scored Schuld from first base. Hill is only batting .238 on the season, but in her last four games she is batting .400 with all four hits being for extra-bases, including her first triple of the season Saturday night.
“It’s knowing what pitch you’re hunting and knowing the strength of your swing, and then when you get that pitch, make good on it,” Bartlett said. “That’s what we’ve really been working through with her.”
ASU did not put up any more runs in the loss, which now brings them to 5-9 in conference play. Bartlett believes this team is very close, but they just need to clean up the little things and not get frustrated.
“The kids need to fight, and they need to figure it out,” Bartlett said. “There’s super hard, bad things happening in the world and softball is not one of them.”
The Sun Devils sit seventh in the Pac-12 with 10 conference games left. After they finish this series with Oregon, they will have a game against GCU and then six straight against No. 2 UCLA and No. 6 Stanford before finishing the season with a three-game series at Oregon State.
“You can pack it in, you’ll play eleven more games and get out of here, or we grind, and we fight,” Bartlett said.
ASU will look to escape the sweep and get back on track in the final game of their three-game weekend series with the Ducks Sunday, April 16 at 2 p.m. MST.
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