TEMPE – After hitting a solo home run in the fourth inning, sophomore outfielder Ashleigh Mejia returned to the plate looking to inflict more damage.
With two runners on, one out and Arizona State trailing 6-5 to Michigan, Mejia aimed to bring home more than just the tying run — she wanted the lead.
In a 0-1 count, Mejia swung and got every bit of it, clearing the Big 12 logo on the right field wall to give ASU its first lead of the night and cap off a 5-run inning.
The Mejia homer contributed to Arizona State’s (11-2) final tally of seven home runs hit on the first day of the Sun Devil Classic. Despite Mejia’s late homer, ASU began with a 9-8 loss to the Michigan Wolverines (10-2) before bouncing back against Southern Utah (6-7) with an 11-10 victory over the Thunderbirds at Alberta B. Farrington Stadium.
Mejia smacked a pair of home runs against Michigan, a mark that senior outfielder Tanya Windle matched, with the outfield duo combining for four homers. In the following game, junior catcher Emily Schepp, junior infielder Katie Chester and sophomore infielder Tiare Ho-Ching all homered against Southern Utah to add to the Sun Devils’ parade of long balls.
Although ASU’s bats erupted last week in the Littlewood Invitational, on Friday, the Devils showcased just as much power. In just one day, their seven home runs surpassed half the amount of homer they hit in their first 11 games (12).
“They’re really good when they catch the ball out front,” ASU coach Megan Bartlett said. “They drive me crazy when their timing is off. But I guess that’s every baseball (and) softball coach in the history of ever. But when we pick good pitches and we get on time, we’re really tough because there’s power up and down that lineup.”
Schepp’s home run may have traveled the furthest of the three in the second game. After taking the lead in the first, Southern Utah exploded for six runs in the top of the second, taking a 6-1 lead.
ASU needed a response, and it did exactly that.
Schepp came to the dish after Windle reached base via a hit by a pitch, forcing in a run to cut the lead to 6-2. In a 2-2 count with bases loaded and two outs, she lined one from the bottom of the strike zone into left field for a 239-foot game-tying grand slam.
“I had actually asked Coach (Josh) Bloomer at the end of game one, and I was like, ‘OK, we haven’t really played a lot of doubleheaders, certainly not tight ones yet.’ But I’m like, ‘What are we going to get out of Scheppy Game 2? Is she going to fight? Is she going to go internal? Is she going to get small or she going to get big?’” Bartlett said. “And he’s like, ‘(I) think she’s going to get big,’ and then she did.”
Addtionally, Ho-Ching’s homer served as a welcome sight for the Sun Devils after her slow start offensively to begin the season, hitting .143 in six games.
But with the Maroon and Gold down by one in the sixth, she came through with a deep fly ball to center field, flipping her bat after crushing one over the center field wall to tie it at 10. ASU later took the lead in the frame, bringing home the final run of the game.
“When she catches the ball out front, she’s dangerous because she has wonderful bat speed,” Bartlett said. “She’s not the biggest kid in the park, but she will square balls up and you will watch them fly.”
On a partly cloudy day where the Sun Devils’ pitching lacked fervor, which may have been due to an ongoing flu that’s infected the clubhouse, Sparky’s hitters showed resilience and brought them back into the game after being down and about early.
It happened last week against Nevada, and it happened twice Friday. ASU trailed 6-2 against Michigan and 6-1 against Southern Utah, coming back to take the lead in both games, but not being able to hold off the Wolverines late.
“We obviously know what’s going on in our own clubhouse,” Bartlett said. “So the hitters were obviously prepared, like we knew going into the day, we were gonna have to score a lot of runs to win with what’s going on. So just got to get them healthy.”
If ASU continues to post the production it has over the past two weekends, the Sun Devil offense threatens to be one of the Big 12’s most potent lineups once conference play begins.
Arizona State will play its second consecutive doubleheader tomorrow, rematching with Michigan at 3:30 p.m. MST before hosting New Mexico State at 6:15 p.m. MST.
Even though the season is still young, ASU hopes the promising start offensively is a sign of what’s to come later in the season.
“They’re creating a postseason resume,” Bartlett said. “And again, we can’t get too far ahead of ourselves. And we have to try and dial them back into the next pitch and the next at bat. But it’s a fun group, and they’re a motivated group, and they’re driven. They’ve got a bit of a chip on their shoulder, and they know what it’s going to take to be a top 16 seed.”
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