Softball wraps State Farm Territorial Cup series with sweep of Arizona
Arizona State softball moves to 30-3, 2-0 Pac-12 after sweeping Arizona, 7-6, March 25. This marks the 11th time in program history the Sun Devils have swept the Wildcats, earning one point for the school in the 2012 State Farm Territorial Cup Series.
The Wildcats fall to 19-8, 0-3 Pac-12 after suffering three losses at the hands of ASU over the weekend. Hillary Bach picked up the win for Arizona State, improving her record to 14-0 overall and a 0.77 ERA. Bach is now third all-time at ASU with 80 career wins.
Haley Steele and a six-run inning in the fifth were the highlight of a come-from-behind rally that the Sun Devils used for the third time this weekend to record a victory. Steele hit her first career grand slam in the fifth, her sixth home run of the year and the second grand slam for ASU this season.
With the series win, ASU captures one point toward the school total – for a complete score breakdown visit the official State Farm Territorial Cup Series website here: http://www.territorialcupseries.com/genrel/rules-points.html
Arizona put a pair of runs on the board in the top of the third as Nicole Bryan came home on a passed ball followed by Hallie Wilson scoring on a Brigette Del Ponte hit. UA made it a 6-0 game in the top of the fourth when the Wildcats scored four runs on two hits and capitalized on one Sun Devil error.
ASU answered in the bottom of the frame scoring its first run as Steele came home on a Bethany Kemp single to right, making it 6-1 leading into the second half of the contest.
Six runs on five hits in the bottom of the fifth put the Sun Devils on top, 7-6, for its first lead of the game. ASU loaded the bases, setting up Steele for her grand slam to close the gap at 6-5.
The Sun Devils loaded the bases yet again after a UA pitching change from Shelby Babcock to Kenzie Fowler. Babcock left the game but would re-enter five batters later in the same inning. Fowler garners the loss and falls to 8-3 overall.
Back-to-back walks scored ASU’s final two runs for the eventual score of 7-6. Taylor Haro scored the tying run on Alix Johnson’s walk, and pinch hitter Amber Freeman was the go-ahead run after Annie Lockwood reached on base on balls.
Bach and the Sun Devil defense held on for three final outs in the top of the seventh to secure the win in front of a crowd of 2, 065 at Farrington Stadium.
UP NEXT:
The Sun Devils hit the road for its first ever Pac-12 road game as it travels to Oregon on March 30. The ASU softball schedule that includes live game statistics, game recaps and season statistics is available here: http://www.thesundevils.com/sports/w-softbl/sched/asu-w-softbl-sched.html