Fans paying attention have noticed diametrically opposite offensive performances from the Arizona State softball team’s first two weeks of play.
While the 10-1 Sun Devils began the season 4-1, the lone loss being a one-run defeat to No. 3 Oklahoma, the pitching staff initially did much of the heavy lifting. ASU scored more than five runs just once, an 8-0 run-rule victory over Northwestern, but was mostly unable to jump-start its offense.
Over the five-game Kajikawa Classic in early February, the Sun Devils had a batting average of .208, an on-base percentage (OBP) of .336 and an OPS of .669.
If the Sun Devils’ bats were frosty during the first week of the season, there were wisps of smoke drifting off them in the Littlewood Invitational. ASU’s numbers jumped to incredible heights across the six-game tournament, producing 62 runs while hitting .425 with an OBP of .505 and a colossal OPS of 1.194.
The Sun Devils scored seven or more runs in each game over the weekend and had double-digit hits in four, leading to ASU going undefeated in the tournament and fueling the team’s jump into most Top 25 rankings. Nearly 60% of the Sun Devils’ at-bats ended with a player on base and ASU often brought those runners home, with 28 extra-base hits and 57 RBIs.
“With all the video and tech and data we have now, we could certainly make the most complex plans on the planet but that just doesn’t work real well for our kids,” ASU coach Megan Bartlett said. “We’re just trying to keep things simple and it’s worked out pretty well.”
Despite the offense’s shaky beginning, ASU’s veteran players understood the inconsistent nature of hitting and appeared to reiterate that to their teammates.
“We play a sport where you go 3 for 10, 4 for 10, you’re elite, right?” redshirt senior outfielder Kaylee Pond said after the 2-1 opening night loss to Oklahoma. “We’re hitting a round ball with a round bat, you sometimes just miss.”
Pond’s solo home run was ASU’s only hit against a Sooners’ pitching staff that limited the Sun Devils to just two runners on base, but averages eventually even out. Those improvements were aided by assistant coach Josh Bloomer’s focus on the finer aspects of hitting, including barrel control and curating specific plans against pitchers.
“They trust that piece of our offense so they know if they get a leadoff runner on, we are real, real dangerous,” Bartlett said after a 7-6 comeback victory over Indiana on Feb. 12. “We know how to move runners. We know how to drive in runners so … they’re leaning on their preparation, and they get excited about it.”
The runs poured in but it was ASU’s timing that truly paid dividends. Against an Indiana team that received Top 25 votes, star senior pitcher Kenzie Brown had an uncharacteristic outing, allowing six earned across seven innings that left ASU in deficits multiple times.
Down 3-0 in the bottom of the fourth, junior infielder Katie Chester’s groundout brought in a run, and Pond cleared the bases on the next-at bat with a three-run blast into deep left.
After Indiana responded with a two-run shot of its own in the top of the fifth, junior designated hitter Emily Schepp pulled a pitch that snuck over the left field wall to add three more runs on the scoreboard. Schepp’s homer ultimately put the Sun Devils up for good and that pattern repeated the following day against Nevada, another team on the verge of the Top 25.
Meika Lauppe, a junior pitcher, gave up four runs in the first inning, putting ASU in a quick hole again, but this time, it was junior catcher Samantha Swan’s three-run homer in the bottom of the third that ignited the Sun Devils’ comeback. Freshman shortstop JazMarie Roberts was perfect in her three trips to the plate, with the latter of her two RBIs ironically icing the game, 7-6 once again.
In tough situations, the Sun Devils’ character and grit shone through, emblematic of the maturity the locker room possesses.
“We’re getting upside down and having to chase leads, and they just stick to the process and keep chipping away,” Bartlett said. “A young team might handle that a little bit differently, right? They start overswinging, pressing a little bit but this group’s just taking what the game gives them and continues to fight.”
ASU cruised through the final three games of the tournament after the initial scares, run-ruling Portland State 20-2 behind an 11-run second inning, and beating Pacific twice, 9-6 on Feb. 14 and mercy-ruling them 8-0 the next afternoon.
Throughout the weekend, the Sun Devils’ depth popped, especially in blowouts. Eleven different players recorded hits against Portland State and a new character constantly took center stage, from Schepp to Roberts to sophomore right fielder Ashleigh Mejia against Pacific.
Perhaps more importantly, it was the mentality that ASU was able to implement offensively that has propelled it to its best start through 11 games since 2021. It helps that the Sun Devils open their season with 25 consecutive home games at Farrington Stadium, with the first road matchup against UTEP onMarch 10.
“Like Ashley Mejia says, ‘Devils don’t quit,’” Roberts said, “And we’re not gonna quit and we’re not going give up until that last out.”
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