For the second time in the opening weeks of the season, ASU Softball defeated a ranked opponent. In the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, the Sun Devils defeated No. 25 Washington Huskies 4-1.
However, ASU’s joyful mood was cut short later, after a 5-1 loss to Belmont in the evening game. Going into extra innings, a series of errors by the Sun Devils allowed four Bruin runners to score.
ASU started the doubleheader strongly with sophomore infielder Nehanda Lewis’ RBI single in the second inning, allowing graduate outfielder Kelsey Hall to score.
Sophomore pitcher Meika Lauppe entered Saturday’s doubleheader coming off back-to-back games without conceding a run. The sophomore pitched for the first three innings against Washington and then another seven full innings against Belmont.
This time, however, she could not keep her opponents off the scoreboard, as Washington responded in the third. Lauppe went on to pitch 10.1 innings across both games, where she collected six total strikeouts but nine hits, which included five runs.
“[Lauppe] has been fantastic,” ASU assistant coach Hailey Decker said on the sophomore’s performance. “I’ve enjoyed watching her play and becoming her own. Unfortunately, today we didn’t have the defensive bats behind her, but today she was fun to watch.”
Coming in to relieve Lauppe in the fourth inning, senior left-hander Kenzie Brown recorded seven strikeouts and zero runs against the Huskies.
On offense, ASU added two more runs to its lead following freshman outfielder Ashleigh Mejia’s single to center field, allowing junior outfielder Yannixa Acuña to score. The following pitch saw freshman catcher Lillian Holtje hit another single, and Mejia came home to score.
Brown continued to dominate in the circle, striking out another two batters in the fifth inning and allowing zero runs. ASU extended its lead through Hall’s ninth RBI of the season, and the Sun Devils ultimately claimed a 4-1 victory.
An hour later, ASU and Belmont took the field. The squads started slow as neither side could record a hit or run in the opening two and a half innings. Lauppe returned to the circle and snagged her 20th strikeout of the season in the third inning.
The deadlock broke with ASU’s second hit of the game when freshman infielder Tiare Ho-Ching struck a home run into left field, giving the Sun Devils a 1-0 lead.
Belmont redshirt junior pitcher Maya Johnson proved to be a tough test for ASU to solve in the nightcap game. Entering the evening, the pitcher had recorded 26 strikeouts. Against the Sun Devils, she did not allow a hit until Ho-Ching’s home run in the fourth inning.
Johnson’s pitching allowed the Bruins to stick around until they eventually evened the tally in the sixth inning following senior infielder Emily Cockrill’s single, which gave time for senior outfielder Baie Ensio to score the game-tying run.
The game-changing moment came in extra innings after a fielding error by the first baseman allowed Belmont to take the lead. The next pitch was an RBI double from junior infielder Nicole Hughes, which was driven up the left line. Lauppe exited the game in favor of freshman right-handed pitcher Julianne Tipton following the two scores.
ASU made two more errors while trying to throw runners out on base. Two overthrows allowed two more runs for Belmont as they finished the game with a 5-1 win over the maroon and gold.
“We have a really young team, which comes with some high emotions,” Decker said. “We’ll continue to preach that they’ll play a million softball games and take millions of ground balls. We’re trying to teach them fluidity.”
“We have a long season; these ups and downs are awesome for us to feel right now,” she said. “We’ve played some high and low emotional games. Learning to deal with that right now is going to make us better for league action.”
The Sun Devils return to play one more time in the 2025 Littlewood Classic on Sunday against Utah Valley, with the first pitch scheduled at 11:30 a.m.
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