Few players in college softball emerged onto the national stage in the way Arizona State pitcher Kenzie Brown did in 2025.
The former Tulsa transfer’s 1.28 ERA and 289 strikeouts each ranked fourth in the country, a vast leap over the rest of the Sun Devils’ rotation that compiled a collective 5.08 ERA and 131 strikeouts.
The departures of sophomores Cambree Creager and Julianne Tipton left shoes to be filled but ASU coach Megan Bartlett wasted no time bolstering the pitching core.
Junior Meika Lauppe was the only Sun Devils starter besides senior Brown to return, so Bartlett turned to the transfer portal to grab Arizona’s Aissa Silva, and recruited freshman Mary Peyton Hodge out of Winston Salem, North Carolina.
While the depth of the pitching staff is paramount, the success of the group begins with Brown, who pitched over 46% of the Sun Devils’ innings last season.
Hodge and Silva, in particular, aren’t just complementary pieces in the rotation but weapons that can provide Brown a breather at various moments during the year.
“We’re going to do our best to keep her somewhere between 190 and 200 innings headed into (the) postseason,” Bartlett said. “It lets us be really thoughtful with when and how we want to use her.”
Brown’s breakout season opened people’s eyes to her overall ability but the senior’s focus heading into 2026 revolves around expanding her arsenal. Primarily an up-ball pitcher, Brown’s riseball resulted in a whiff rate of 38.3% in 2025.
That number ranked third in the nation among pitchers with at least 500 pitches thrown but developing a counter remains the next step in her growth.
“I command the zone, up in the zone, so I think adding my drop ball and being able to tunnel two pitches can be really important for a different look because it’s gonna fool a lot more hitters,” Brown said.
Lauppe’s experience in 2025 could prove to be instrumental heading into her third year with ASU, and although her 9-8 record may not jump off the screen, her pace opposite Brown has formed a strong one-two combo.
“Meika is going to really surprise people,” Bartlett said. “I really think she’s going to have a great year. That kid runs 70-72 (mph) at the plate, like that velocity is real.”
Silva enjoyed a prosperous sophomore season, going 22-6 with a 3.25 ERA and 110 strikeouts as the leader of the Wildcats attack in the absence of ace Devyn Netz, who was sidelined with a back injury.
However, Netz’s return ended up pushing Silva back in the pecking order and the Tucson native was relegated to just 26 innings pitched in 2025, spurring a change of scenery an hour and a half north in Tempe.
“The coaching staff is amazing here, the girls are amazing here,” Silva said. “Part of my reason is I really wanted to stay close to home, and I wanted to be a part of a great program.”
Silva, along with Hodge, brings a new dynamic to the Sun Devils as left-handed pitchers behind Brown and Lauppe. The versatility in the rotation allows ASU’s coaching staff to give opponents unique looks based on their pre-game preparation.
“We can be really thoughtful with matchups, and to do it with somebody who’s thrown so many big time games at this level, we’re pretty excited about it,” Bartlett said.
Perhaps the biggest addition to the Sun Devils this offseason wasn’t a player but the experience of assistant coach John Bargfeldt, an assistant coach at Oklahoma State from 2019 to 2023 and the head coach at Tulsa for the 14 years before that.
Bargfeldt’s reputation as a pitching coach is well known in softball circles and his path to Tempe was eased by connections with both Bartlett and Brown that predated this season.
Both coaches hail from Indiana, with Bargfeldt growing up near Gary and Bartlett near Terre Haute. Their paths crossed for the first time when Bartlett was an assistant coach at Texas, where her Longhorns faced off against Bargfeldt’s Cowboys 13 times between 2021 and 2022.
Oklahoma State ended up on top 10 times during that span, a memory that Bartlett still brings up.
“It was just time to make a change and you’re certainly not going to tell John Bargfeldt ‘No,’” Bartlett said. “I still have nightmares of us trying to pick apart his pitch calling and planning and game plan for those Oklahoma State hitters back in the Texas days, and now with his international experience in Team USA, he’s just been such a tremendous asset.”
Bargfeldt also helped recruit Brown to Tulsa after she attended a camp there, and his arrival at ASU embodied a full-circle moment for both.
“I took hitters to 3-2 counts quite literally all the time, so I think just challenging hitters with more competitive pitches is the biggest piece of it,” Brown said of Bargfeldt’s advice heading into the season. The Sun Devils kick off their season Thursday by hosting 25 consecutive games at Alberta B. Farrington Softball Stadium, including one against No. 3 Oklahoma. The first glimpse of ASU softball this year should give an indication of the changes this rotation has made.
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