Coming off a walk-off win the night before to defeat No. 21 Oregon, Arizona State (5-2) returned to the diamond for a doubleheader in the Littlewood Classic on Friday. In the two-game set, the Sun Devils lost to the University of North Dakota 10-1 in six innings and beat Weber State 11-0 in five.
ASU held its own for the first two innings against the North Dakota Fighting Hawks (4-3), maintaining a 0-0 score after the first inning. However, the momentum shifted in favor of the Hawks not long after.
A collision in right field between freshman infielder Tiare Ho-Ching and freshman right fielder Ashleigh Mejia left Ho-Ching unable to return to the game due to an ankle injury.
After two scoreless innings, North Dakota started heating up, picking apart the Devils’ defense. ASU allowed six runs in the top of the third and committed two errors all in the top of the third inning.
The Sun Devils ultimately fell 10-1 to North Dakota. Head coach Megan Bartlett gave her team an inspired speech after the loss to help her team get going into the game against Weber State.
“We had a very colorful talk in between games,” head coach Bartlett said. “We have a talented group, and they’re young. They’re going to have some big wins this year, and they’re going to have some learning moments.”
The talk Bartlett gave between games reinvigorated the Devils before they faced Weber State (3-5).
“Our coaches had everything they needed to say, which is very valid,” graduate captain Kelsey Hall said. “We said at the end of the day, this is the second weekend, and this is an amazing opportunity for us to learn who we want to be.”
Arizona State did just that. The Sun Devils struck first and made noise early, as they scored three runs in the first inning.
Sophomore right-handed pitcher Meika Lauppe set down the Weber State lineup in order in the top of the second for ASU, which allowed the offense to pick up right where they left off: stacking up runs.
The Sun Devils spared no time when it came to scoring. In the second at-bat of the half-inning, Tanya Windle crushed a home run to center field, giving the Devils a 4-0 lead.
And it did not stop there.
Hall smashed a ball off the center field wall for a single, bringing home Ho-Ching and giving Arizona State another run to put them up 5-0. The maroon and gold scored another two runs in the inning to make the score 7-0 at the end of the second.
Arizona State maintained momentum throughout the game to complete the emphatic response to adversity in game one. It demonstrated that the young team had learned from its struggles earlier in the day.
“We were certainly happy with the response,” head coach Bartlett said. “We’re young, there’s just a lot of lessons.”
One more home run in the fourth from sophomore infielder Nehanda Lewis put the exclamation point on the night for ASU and led to an 11-0 win for Sparky in only five innings.
The Sun Devils have another doubleheader on Saturday, with the first game being against the No. 25 Washington Huskies. They’ll then play the Belmont Bruins to round out the day.
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