In the second inning of Friday night’s game between Arizona State Softball and the University of Miami (Ohio) (0-2), the Sun Devils trailed 5-0. Slowly, Sparky crawled back, eventually delivering the knockout punch in the fifth inning to mercy the RedHawks 15-7 and complete the comeback.
“We were trading blows so often early on that we just kept telling them play the game and compete,” Coach Megan Bartlett said.
Early in the evening, senior third baseman AJ Murphy delivered the first haymaker for the maroon and gold. She came up to the plate in with fans chanting her name in the background and answered the call with a powerful home run over the right field wall.
However, Murphy wasn’t done. She quickly followed her home run in the second inning with a three-run slam the next inning.
After transferring from San Diego State this offseason, she certainly feels comfortable in her first year in Tempe.
“The air in Arizona, the ball seems to fly here,” Murphy said.
Murphy finished the game with a pair of hits and got on base in all four of her at-bats. Most importantly, her coach believed she provided the spark her team needed to start a comeback.
“You can certainly feel momentum,” Bartlett said. “Momentum swings are real and they happen fast.”
The Sun Devils swung the momentum in their favor in the fourth inning when ASU’s hitters began to make Miami’s pitcher uncomfortable. At one point, the RedHawks junior pitcher, Lea Chevrier, threw seven straight balls and put four total runners on base.
The very next inning, chaos ensued. Two walks and an infield single loaded the bases for the Sun Devils. An infield error from the RedHawks gifted ASU an unearned run.
Miami (OH) chose to switch its pitcher, who immediately gave up a hit to advance all runners one base. With the game tied and bases still loaded, freshman outfielder Ashleigh Mejia worked her way into a full count setting up a pivotal moment in the game.
The next pitch was ruled a ball, which led to a walk. Yet, multiple RedHawk players failed to realize a walk was awarded. As a result, two Sun Devils scored, including freshman second baseman Tiare Ho-Ching, who knocked the ball out of the catcher’s glove and stole a run with heady play.
Before the fans had time to recover, graduate designated player Kelsey Hall smacked a three-run home run in the very next at-bat. She shared her feelings about the monster fifth inning.
“It was exciting,” Hall said. “It was fun. Some of it was luck, but again, luck is when preparation meets opportunity.”
Of course, the opportunity for such a comeback would not have been possible without ASU’s poor start to the game.
True freshman Julianne Tipton made her debut in the circle, as she pitched her first game as a collegiate athlete. She struggled, giving up two hits in the first inning and three runs in the second before she was pulled with the bases loaded.
Fellow freshman Grace Molitor struggled at shortstop, both in the field and in the batter’s box. She had two critical errors, which both led to runs, and went 0-2 at the dish.
Coach Bartlett reiterated that she expects growing pains for a player as young as her, especially since Molitor chose to graduate high school early to play this season. She arrived on campus just four weeks ago.
“Nobody is harder on Grace than Grace, which is a trait most of the great ones have,” Bartlett said. “She’s gonna go right back out there tomorrow, and I guarantee you she will be ready to play.”
Meika Lauppe is another young player the Sun Devils expect to be a star. The sophomore came into the game with bases loaded and mitigated a difficult situation help ASU escape unscathed.
Lauppe only gave up one earned run through the 3.2 innings and recorded four strikeouts.
The Sun Devils will meet the Redhawks at Farrington Stadium once again tomorrow at 6 p.m. MST for ASU’s third game of the Kajikawi Classic.
Leave a Reply