ASU softball coach Clint Myers frantically spun his arm in a circular motion to signify the opportunity freshman Elizabeth Caporuscio had in front of her.
As soon as the centerfielder’s foot touched home plate, it was over. A five-run sixth inning meant the eight run mercy rule was in effect. The game against No. 13 UCLA (25–8, 2–2 Pac-12) on Thursday ended in a 9–1 blowout.
The winning hit was off the bat of freshman Haley Steele, whose line drive reached the left centerfield wall. Steele has had her hand in recent wins, hitting a grand slam to help sweep then-No. 14 UA and the team’s only home run in the series against then-No. 17 Oregon last weekend.
No. 7 ASU (33–4, 5–1 Pac-12) controlled Thursday’s game from start to finish. Scoring early wasn’t a problem for the Sun Devils as they picked up three runs in the third inning to take a quick lead.
“That’s something we talk about all the time, coming out and scoring first,” senior outfielder Taylor Haro said. “I think we did a good job of coming out, sticking to our plan and executing it.”
That lead, combined with sophomore Dallas Escobedo’s (13–3, 2.36 ERA) terrific pitching performance made the win against a traditional Pac-12 power look easy.
Escobedo had to work to pick up the win though, as she threw 123 pitches.
“I need to work on getting ahead more and that will cut down on my pitch count,” Escobedo said.
Haro caused the most problems from the batter’s box, going 3–3 and scoring two runs.
The Sun Devils experienced a scare early in the game. The bases were loaded, and senior outfielder Annie Lockwood lifted a single over the head of UCLA sophomore second baseman Talee Snow. Then, on her way to third, ASU senior shortstop Katelyn Boyd went down after being interfered with by sophomore shortstop Kellie Fox.
The packed Farrington Stadium went silent as the All-America athlete lay in the base path. Boyd stayed in for the rest of the game and scored the third run of the inning on a groundout from Steele.
“Having her go down was a little frightful,” Myers said. “She is a tough kid. She got right back up. One thing I can say about this team is that we have someone who can take her spot … We had some people that hadn’t stepped up in a while really step up tonight.”
Reach the reporter at jjmckelv@asu.edu
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