Game one of the fight for the Territorial Cup went to Arizona with a 2-0 win over the Sun Devils.
The Wildcats scored late in the seventh inning with a two-run home run from first baseman Joelle Kriste to give them the win.
On defense, it was all about the battle of the pitchers. Both pitchers had comparable stats coming into this game.
For ASU, redshirt junior pitcher Kelsey Kessler started the game with a 2.00 ERA with 86 strikeouts and 10 walks. Arizona had junior pitcher Danielle O’Toole in the circle. She entered with a 1.81 ERA and 86 strikeouts with only 14 walks.
Not only was the game low-scoring; ASU could barely get on base. Until the sixth inning, they had no hits. Redshirt sophomore pinch hitter Margaret Stahm was the only player to put a hit on the board when she singled into the outfield.
“We kept a strong energy going and kept a positive outlook, knowing anything could happen,” Stahm said. “Luck just wasn’t on our side tonight.”
Co-interim head coach Robert Wagner notes that offense needed to take advantage of the couple hittable pitches that were thrown down the plate.
“We just have to give credit to O’Toole,” Wagner said. “She kept us off balanced and didn’t miss a lot of balls over the plate.”
Co-interim head coach Letty Olivarez had previously talked about working on the pitchers fighting to the finish. In tonight’s game, Olivarez notes that the communication with the pitchers needs to be fixed.
“As a pitching staff, we need to recognize each batters approach in the box and make adjustment,” Olivarez said.
Kessler struck out five batters and only gave up one hit. Her mindset into the rest of the series against Arizona is to learn from the loss and look forward.
"It was a tough day, but we have two more games." said Kessler. "I'm just going to move forward and I hope everyone else does too."
The Sun Devils look to find a win against the rivals of Arizona in game two of the series tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. in Tempe.
Reach the reporter at lmbrunet@asu.edu or follow @Leah_brunette on Twitter.
Like State Press Sports on Facebook and follow @statepresssport on Twitter.
