In a battle between two of the Big 12’s strongest pitching staffs, No. 18 Oklahoma State (22-9, 4-3 Big 12) came out on top 4-0 over Arizona State (24-13, 6-6 Big 12) on Wednesday night.
Sun Devil senior right-handed pitcher Kenzie Brown turned in another exceptional outing. In just four innings of work, the flamethrower struck out nine Cowgirls and allowed just one run on three hits.
“She’s a warrior,” head coach Megan Bartlett said. “I just cannot say enough good things about Kenzie Brown.”
Brown now leads the Big 12 in strikeouts with 176, which also ranks as third-best in the country.
For Oklahoma State, junior right-handed pitcher Ruby Meylan turned in a gem. The 6-foot ace pitched her fourth complete-game shutout of the season, improving her ERA to 1.16.
However, Meylan’s outing differed from many of her previous starts. In her prior three complete game shutouts, she struck out at least nine batters, but on Wednesday night she only sat down three Sun Devils on strikes.
Poor pitch selection from ASU and high efficiency in the zone allowed Meylan to throw just 81 pitches through seven innings.
“She (Meylan) locates corners very well and I just feel like we were chasing a lot of balls out of the strike zone,” Bartlett said.
Meylan’s sharp night started in the opening frame. She sat down the Sun Devils in order while throwing just eight pitches.
With the help of some great defense behind her, who turned in two crucial double plays, Meylan quickly worked through the Maroon and Gold lineup. Through her seven innings of work, Meylan saw no more than five batters in an individual frame.
In the batter’s box, Cowgirl senior shortstop Megan Bloodworth started the scoring for OSU with a solo blast in the top of the third. Two more unearned runs came in the top of the fourth due to the speed of Oklahoma State and fielding woes from the Sun Devils.
The Cowgirls added an insurance run at the top of the seventh off a pitch-hit RBI from redshirt junior catcher Audrey Schneidmiller to end their scoring.
The lone opportunity to capitalize arose at the bottom of the fourth for the Devils. However, with runners on the corners and one out, back-to-back first-pitch outs halted ASU’s chance to score.
Even with the lackluster offensive performance, junior center fielder Yaya Acuña extended her team-best hit streak to six.
“There were some brights spots, but not enough,” Bartlett said. “We did not string enough together to come up with any real momentum.”
This weekend, the Sun Devils possess a chance to bounce back and climb up the Big 12 standings. The Kansas Jayhawks (16-15, 3-6 Big 12) will travel to Tempe for a three-game series set to kick off on Friday at 6:00 p.m. PST. With just a month left of the regular season, Bartlett said her team needs to find an extra gear.
“It is kind of time to put our money where our mouth is and perform better,” Bartlett said.
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