In Friday’s doubleheader, the Sun Devils started off cold but finished hot and split their two matchups.
In game one, ASU took on a beating from No. 21 Virginia Tech as the Hokies’ junior pitcher Emma Lemley shut out the Sun Devils resulting in a 9-0 loss. In game two, the Sun Devils flipped the script on Illinois State handing them a shutout in an electric 8-0 victory of their own.
The first frame of action against Virginia Tech gave little for the home faithful to cheer about. The first four batters for the Hokies all reached base safely and later scored. After that, the Hokies never looked back. They added on to their lead with solo home runs from senior outfielder Addy Greene in the second and freshman Michelle Chatfield in the third.
After being quiet in the first and second innings the Sun Devils had two runners in scoring position in the bottom of the third, but with two outs already on the board they were unable to capitalize.
Virginia Tech then added three more to their total in the top half of the fourth as senior Cameron Fagan, Greene and junior Bre Peck all knocked in runs. Lemley went on to sit down the next six Sun Devils batters in a row to close out a 9-0 loss in 5 innings for ASU.
After the first matchup, graduate student infielder Alesia Denby believed there were some positives to take from the loss that helped with the second game.
“I think it was just a restart, to regroup and kind of find what we can do better as a team collectively,” Denby said. “So I think coming out the gate and making sure we’re scoring runs for our pitchers was our main thing.”
Coming out of the gates hot was exactly what the Sun Devils did. Sophomore pitcher Kylee Magee struck out three Firebirds batters in the top half of the first.
Then the offense got to work quickly as sophomore right fielder Tanya Winlde started with a lead-off single and Denby followed her up with a hard-hit single to left field which scored Windle after a pair of Firebird errors. Shannon Cunningham finished out the scoring in the first with an RBI single that scored Denby.
In the second and the third, Magee continued to shut down the Firebirds lineup and got more help from her offense. With one out in the second, freshman infielder Libby Walsh went yard for her first collegiate home run.
“It felt really good to square up a ball, and I just saw it fly off the bat, and I got really excited,” Walsh said.
Senior catcher Sara Kinch followed her teammate up with a two-run blast of her own in the bottom of the third that brought home graduate student outfielder Kelsey Hall after a pitch had hit her.
After three strong innings from Magee, ASU called on senior Mac Osborne in relief and she picked up right where Magee left off. Osborne set down all three batters in a row in the fourth, thanks to a brilliant play from sophomore outfielder Yaya Acuña.
“They just take the wind out of the opposing team’s sails,” said ASU head coach Megan Bartlett. “As much as they pump us up, I think what it does more is deflate the opposition. What a beautiful catch by Yaya.”
Yaya followed up her amazing catch with a lead-off single, which started a three-run rally in the fourth. Pinch hitter Audrey LeClair knocked in Acuña on an RBI single and Denby then added on to the Sun Devil score with a two-run double.
Osborne set down the final three batters in the top of the fifth to give the Sun Devils an 8-0 victory over Illinois State in five innings. Arizona State’s pitching and defense held the Firebirds to just two hits and also struck out five of their batters.
Arizona State closes out the Littlewood Classic with another doubleheader on Saturday against Memphis and then Cal State Fullerton.
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