Just one day after a two-game sweep of UTEP, Arizona State softball couldn’t keep the momentum on Thursday, as the Sun Devils fell 12-2 to the Texas State Bobcats in the opening game of the Sun Devil Classic at Farrington Stadium.
The Bobcats came out swinging early against ASU senior pitcher Mac Osbourne with back-to-back one-out singles. After a force out at second, sophomore designated player Kamryn Bass grounded to Sun Devil senior third baseman Kayla Lissy, who overthrew an outstretched Shannon Cunningham, resulting in two runs and Bass reaching third for the Bobcats. Texas State followed with an RBI single up the middle off the bat of senior center fielder Piper Randolph to make it 3-0.
Despite loading the bases in the bottom of the first, Arizona State senior catcher Sara Kinch hit a ball right to Texas State sophomore second baseman Katarina Zarate to end the inning and strand the runners.
ASU’s defense began to click in the second inning, escaping a jam with two on and one out by taking advantage of some aggressive Bobcat baserunning and catching a pair of runners in rundowns for the unorthodox double play.
Texas State, however, would build another rally in the third, tallying three straight hits to score two runs and end Osbourne’s after two and a third innings and five runs on nine hits.
Mullins showcased her talents and justified her 1.02 ERA as she fooled Sun Devil hitters for most of the night with her changeup. Arizona State senior Deborah Jones, who entered in relief of Osbourne, quickly put the fire out as well as she retired five of her first six batters faced.
A highlight for the Sun Devil offense came from freshman Samantha Swan, who pinch hit for freshman second baseman Libby Walsh and took the first pitch she saw over the left field wall for her first collegiate home run.
The Bobcats would tack on another run in the sixth before adding six runs to their total in the seventh. Senior first baseman JJ Smith singled to end Sun Devil Deb Jones’s night after three and two thirds innings, four hits, one run and five strikeouts. Her replacement, freshman Meika Lauppe would force back to back ground balls but only record one out as a routine chopper got by Walsh at second base, sparking a rally which saw four more runs, all with two outs.
After six and two-thirds’ Mullins would exit the game giving up two runs on ten hits with eight strikeouts. ASU freshman Ayden Allen would drive home another run courtesy of a throwing error by senior Sara Vanderford, but a shallow fly ball to junior left fielder Ciara Trahan ended the 10-run Arizona State loss. Arizona State will continue the Sun Devil Classic this weekend taking on Seton Hall and Ohio State on Friday, Utah Valley and Idaho State Saturday and New Mexico State on Sunday.
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