No. 9 Arizona States Bounces Back At Farrington

TEMPE, Ariz.– Remaining undefeated at home in conference play, No. 9 Arizona State (33-7, 14-2 Pac-12) defeated Cal (26-21-1, 6-10 Pac-12) on Friday evening in the first game of the series with the Golden Bears at Farrington.
 
The Sun Devils walked five times in the bottom of the second, along with a hit by pitch in a seven-run second inning to give themselves a six-run lead after being down by one after the first inning.
 
"This week it was just focusing on attacking pitches early and we knew with Cal coming in that we were going to have to make sure we get a good pitch," head coach Trisha Ford said. "We made sure they brought it over the white, which was kind of our plan with all of the walks."
 
A wild pitch scored Yanni Acuña in the bottom of the fourth to give ASU another run, followed by a single from Makenna Harper to bring the Sun Devils ahead by eight runs, 9-1.
 
After allowing two runs from Cal in the top of the fifth, Mailey McLemore as a pinch hitter came in to hit in the bottom of the fifth and hit the first home run of the game for ASU. This is the 28th game of the season where the Sun Devils have hit at least one home run. It was McLemore's fourth home run of the season.

The senior duo in Acuña and Harper both got two hits apiece Friday night, each with one RBI and one double. The senior from Tucson went 2-for-4 while Harper went 2-for-3.
 
Lindsay Lopez got the start in the circle where she pitched 4.1 innings and had three strikeouts and allowed one run en route to her eighth win of the season. With one out in the top of the fifth, Marissa Schuld came in for relief and pitched the rest of the game where she had a strikeout and gave up no walks.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Arizona State 10, Cal 3

• The Bears struck first in the top of the first inning as they had one run off a single to take the early 1-0 lead. In the Sun Devils' half of the first inning, Sanders reached base on a walk and Hill singled, but were left stranded.
• Jazmyn Rollin reached base on a walk and then advanced to third off a double to right center from Makenna Harper. Puk singled to shortstop, bringing in the first run of the evening for the Sun Devils to tie the game 1-1 in the bottom of the second. ASU took the lead 2-1 off a walk from Bella Loomis with the bases loaded, which brought in Harper. A groundout to shortstop with the bases loaded brought in Harger and a single from Acuña brought in Puk to make it 4-1 for the Sun Devils.
• With the bases loaded and with one out, Hill was walked to bring in Loomis and with the bases still full, Rollin was hit by a pitch to bring in Acuña and Sanders scored to tack on three more runs which gave ASU the 7-1 lead going into the third.
• Both teams were scoreless in the third inning as Lopez had two of her three strikeouts to get things done in the top of the third.
• Acuña doubled to right field to get things started in the bottom of the fourth where she advanced to third on a wild pitch, where she scored on a passed ball to make it 7-1 for the Sun Devils. Harper singled to bring in Sanders, tacking on another run to give ASU the six-run lead, 8-1.
• Cal scored two runs off a single to center field in the top of the fifth and a fielder's choice to make it 9-3.
• Coming in as a pinch hitter, Mailey McLemore hit a leadoff home run in the bottom of the fifth to give the Sun Devils a seven-run edge, 10-3.
• Neither teams scored in the sixth inning, as Schuld picked up a strikeout in the circle in the top half. In the top of the seventh, the Sun Devils were able to take care of things on the field as they won the game on a groundout, 10-3.

 
QUOTES
Head coach Trisha Ford
On Lindsay Lopez's performance as starter tonight
"I was just telling Lindsay to trust it and spin it. I just wanted her to smooth it out a bit and I thought she did a good job of maybe not having her best stuff today, but she really battled for us and just kept going."
 
On overall performance tonight with amount of walks
"I thought we just did a good job up and down our lineup. I actually liked our walks, to be honest. I thought we were pretty patient since Cyd took her walks. I think we almost had quite a few up and down the lineup that had to walk."
 
Makenna Harper
On Team's Mindest After Stanford Series
"This game is a game of failure. We had a great winning streak, but at some point or another, you're gonna lose a ballgame. So it's kind of how are you going to bounce back from that?  I think our team handled it really well. We try to keep the energy rolling and we're going to be good if we do that.
 
On Team's Approach During the Six-Run Second Inning
"We just pieced together hits and had the pass the bat mentality. We wanted to get  the person behind us up and we executed that tonight."
 
Mailey McLemore
On her home run at bat
"I try to be patient when I'm at the plate and pick my pitches. Obviously today that worked very well for me but I think that's our team's mentality, be patient but aggressive."
 
On being home after being on the road
"It's always nice to play at home so we're just excited to be back. Especially after being on the road it's nice to be home and in front of our fans who always come out and support us."
 
On the team's performance today
"I think we did a great job today in doing what we always do and that's be aggressive. We came out early and scored some runs which sets the tone for the game so I think we did that really well."
 
STRAIGHT FACTS
 

• In the last 12 games at Farrington against Cal, the Sun Devils are 9-3 and have outscored the Golden Bears 90-49.
• Historically, Arizona State is 62-69 against California but have won seven straight series against California.
• Five Sun Devils have 10 or more home runs on the season. (Yanni Acuña, Jazmine Hill, Alynah Torres, Jazmyn Rollin and Cydney Sanders)
• Sun Devil Softball is 27-0 when scoring more than six runs this season.
• ASU is 4th in the nation in home runs per game with an average of 1.97 per game.
• The Sun Devils are 4th in the nation in team on-base percentage (.434) and 3rd in team slugging percentage (.643).
• ASU is 1st in the Pac-12 in bat- ting average, slugging percent- age, on base percentage, total bases and home runs.
• The Sun Devils are 5th in the country in team batting average.
• Yanni Acuña's batting average ranks 7th overall in the country.
• Acuña and Sanders are 2nd and 3rd, respectively, in the Pac-12 in batting average. They are also 1st and 2nd, respectively, in on-base percentage in the Pac-12.
• True freshman Cydney Sanders leads the Sun Devils with 15 home runs. She also leads the team with 48 RBIs.
• In the circle, Lindsay Lopez leads the Sun Devils with a 1.38 ERA.
• Yanni Acuña and Cydney Sanders to USA Softball's Top 25 Finalist List for the 2022 College Player of the Year.
• ASU has hit at least one home run in a game 27 times this season.

 
SCHEDULE
 
Game 1: Friday 4/29 6:00 p.m. MST        ASU 10, Cal 3
Game 2: Saturday 4/30 6:00 p.m. MST    Live Stats | Pac-12 Network
Game 3: Sunday 5/1 12:00 p.m. MST                 Live Stats | Pac-12 Network
 
RANKINGS
USA Softball/ESPN.com - 9
NFCA/USA Today -  14
Softball America -  11
D1 Softball -  12