One of the hardest things in softball is to remain consistent.
Even for an offensive juggernaut like the No. 2 ASU softball team, it is difficult to produce a high number of runs every day against fierce competition.
Entering the series against Washington, ASU (36-5, 7-3 Pac-12) scored a Division I-best 7.83 runs per game.
In its opening 3-1 loss to No. 14 Washington (32-10, 10-3 Pac-12), ASU scored a season-low one run.
“Our plan is not to score seven or eight runs," junior outfielder Bailey Wigness said. “Our plan is to get a good pitch and barrel it up. We can stay consistent every game in that respect. Sometimes balls don’t fall your way.”
Washington junior pitcher Kaitlin Inglesby retired 12 consecutive batters during a critical portion of the game, spanning from the third inning into the seventh.
“She was just moving it in and out pretty well,” Wigness said. “I knew she had a pretty good off-speed pitch. We work on that type of thing in practice all the time, so there’s really no excuse for that.”
Ingelsby pitched a complete game for the Huskies, allowing seven hits, one run and no walks to go along with six strikeouts.
ASU actually out-hit Washington seven to five, but the timing of the hits determines who scores more runs.
“We’ve done that several times,” ASU coach Clint Myers said on out-hitting Washington. “If you look at our losses, look at the number of people we’ve left on base. This is a young team, and we’re still learning and growing.”
Junior pitcher Mackenzie Popescue took the loss for ASU (36-5, 7-3 Pac-12). It was Popescue’s first loss of the season. She lasted 6.1 innings, gave up five hits and three runs, though only two were earned.
Wigness bailed out Popescue in the fourth to keep ASU in the game. With runners at second and third and two outs, Wigness made a sliding catch in right field to save two runs.
Popescue relies on contact to get hitters out, which can be a risky proposition. Sometimes the ball falls the pitcher’s way, sometimes it doesn’t.
“That’s the type of pitcher I am," Popescue said. "I don’t have all strikeouts. I throw the ball low, and I try to get them out on the ground. Sometimes they find the hole, and that’s how it works.”
For example, in the sixth inning, Washington scored its go-ahead run on three consecutive ground balls. Washington freshman outfielder Missy Taukeiaho led off the inning with a chopper just staying fair inside the third base line. The ball trickled into left field, and Washington had their go-ahead runner at second with nobody out. The next batter hit a slow roller to junior shortstop Cheyenne Coyle.
Common logic as a runner is to hold at second on a ball hit to the left side of the infield. Taukeiaho dashed for third anyway. Coyle tried to get the lead runner, but she couldn’t get the ball out of her glove in time. The third hitter of the inning capped off the rally with an infield chopper to bring home the run.
Washington picked up an insurance run in the seventh when it scored a runner from second off a one-hop rocket that bounced off senior second baseman Sam Parlich’s glove.
For much of the game, ASU didn’t have any scoring opportunities. Nobody reached for the Sun Devils in the fourth, fifth, or sixth innings.
In the seventh inning, ASU finally ended Inglesby’s streak of 12 consecutive batters retired with one out. Sophomore first baseman Bethany Kemp singled to left and Parlich reached on a failed fielder’s choice.
ASU couldn’t deliver either runner in, and they lost 3-1 in front of 1,223 fans at Farrington Stadium.
Reach the reporter at justin.janssen@asu.edu
