The Arizona State Sun Devils continued their fall ball slate with a 16-1 win over the Embry-Riddle Eagles.
The star of the show was obviously graduate student Jordyn VanHook, but a number of other Sun Devils stepped up and showed potential in the win.
Sophomore pitcher Kylee Magee made her fall debut for the Sun Devils. She struck out ten Eagles in four innings and finished with one earned run charged.
Magee didn’t get to pitch in fall ball last year due to injury and was instantly thrust into the spotlight and the pressure of Pac-12 softball as a freshman.
She had a strong offseason of preparation, as she got a lot of work in over the summer with pitching coach Jeremy Manley.
“It was a lot of tiny changes in my motion that you can’t really see, but I can feel everything,” Magee said.
The offense started slow, not scoring any runs until senior catcher Sara Kinch hit a home run just over the center field wall. Kinch’s home run tied the game in the bottom of the third.
“I stayed calm,” Kinch said. “I think I’m just trusting the process, working hard throughout the weeks and it’s just starting to pay off.”
From there, the offense took over. The Sun Devils scored three runs in the bottom of the fourth. Sophomore center fielder Tanya Windle hit a sacrifice fly to bring in freshman second baseman Libby Walsh, helped out by an error on the throw to third.
VanHook hit her fourth home run of the fall to make it 4-1.
In the fourth, Kinch homered again to put the Sun Devils up 6-1 after senior left fielder Kayla Lissy beat out a grounder to second. Kinch had one homer all of last year but sent two out of the yard in the win.
“She’s trying to work on better direction,” head coach Megan Bartlett said. “That’s the funny thing about home runs. When you stop trying to hit them, they show up.”
The Sun Devils put up three more runs in the sixth. VanHook walked, then graduate student right fielder Kelsey Hall was hit by a pitch.
Sophomore utility player Shannon Cunningham hit a grounder to the shortstop, which was then thrown over the head of the first baseman. Then, the next throw went over the head of the catcher, allowing VanHook and Hall to score and Cunningham to reach third base.
Graduate student utility player Makenzie MacFarlane topped it off with an RBI double to make it 9-1 after five innings.
In the sixth, VanHook homered again. VanHook’s fifth blast in two games of fall ball might’ve been her longest, flying over the scoreboard at Farrington Stadium.
“She’s been locked in, laser-focused. She stayed here all summer,” Bartlett said. “She trained her tail off. When she wasn’t here she was coaching 14U softball.”
Junior pitcher Kenzie Brown made her second appearance of the fall for the Sun Devils. She struck out eight of ten Friday night, good for an 85% strikeout rate in fall ball so far.
“Her efficiency right now, drop, rise and change is so good,” Bartlett said. “She’s working with great timing and great rhythm and sequence. She’s another one, she stayed all summer and trained all on her own.”
The Sun Devils scored at least one run in every inning from the third onward.
The Sun Devils will next play Grand Canyon on Wednesday as they continue through fall ball play.
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