After a disappointing 4–2 loss in the ninth inning, the No. 3 ASU softball team will look to rebound Wednesday as it faces No. 25 Oregon State in the last two games of its three-game series.
The second game, which was postponed in the bottom of the fourth inning, will resume Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. The game was called to a halt because of the absence of field lights at Oregon State’s (27-10, 4-3 Pac-12) softball field.
The extraordinary length of game one was partly because of a rain delay, which occurred in the fifth inning, stopping play with the bases loaded for Oregon State and ASU sophomore Dallas Escobedo (14-4, 2.42 ERA) on the mound.
Escobedo got out of the jam, but only after allowing a crucial run to break the scoreless ballgame.
The Sun Devils (35-5, 7-2 Pac-12) fought back in the seventh inning, scoring a run off of an error by OSU third baseman Desiree Beltran and an infield hit by ASU sophomore Alix Johnson.
Yet the Beavers wouldn’t quit. Junior Elizabeth Santana hit her third home run of the year to tie the game at two. Two innings later, Santana came up big again, crushing a walk-off home run to clinch the victory.
It was the first time OSU has beaten a top five team since 2008.
As ASU regroups, they can find solace in the fact that there are areas in which the team can improve.
The Sun Devils left 12 runners on base throughout the game. Freshman third baseman Haley Steele caught the worst of it, leaving four runners stranded in her last three at bats.
The team did record nine hits and had three players, seniors Katelyn Boyd, freshman Elizabeth Caporuscio and senior Talor Haro, with more than one hit.
Another problem that held consistent for Escobedo has been her ever-increasing pitch count. The ace in the Sun Devils’ rotation threw 177 pitches, her highest of the season by far.
Escobedo spoke about this difficulty after her first of two wins last weekend against then-No. 17 UCLA. She said she needed to work on getting ahead in the count more often, but at the same time acknowleged that won’t change how she faces each batter.
“I just throw as many as I need to get the batter out,” Escobedo said. “If they are fouling it off, I am still going to throw at them, and if I am falling behind, I have got to come back.”
Reach the reporter at jjmckelv@asu.edu
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