Coming off a series loss to Utah, the No. 5 ASU softball team needed to get back on track.
In the series finale against No. 10 Cal, ASU didn’t play its best offensive softball, but it hung on for a 5-3 win to sweep the Golden Bears (35-12, 9-9 Pac-12) Sunday.
“Utah series was definitely a wake-up call for us,” junior pitcher Dallas Escobedo said. “We weren’t down on it. We wanted to stay up and have a great week of practice, which we did.”
ASU (42-7, 13-5 Pac-12) was outhit 7-5 in Sunday’s game, but it capitalized on two critical errors and a wild pitch to win the game.
“Good teams find a way to win,” junior shortstop Cheyenne Coyle said. “If it’s through an error or a single or home run, we like it. We’ll take it any way we can get it."
After being outscored 21-2 in the first two games of the series, Cal came prepared to salvage the third game.
ASU struck first off a sacrifice fly in the first inning, which was its 10th run of the series in the first inning.
In the second inning, Cal hit two solo home runs, giving them their first lead of the series, at 2-1.
However, in the third, Cal’s defense unraveled. With the bases loaded, Cal freshman pitcher Nisa Ontiveros threw a wild pitch, tying the game. It got worse for the Golden Bears.
Cal sophomore shortstop Cheyenne Cordes booted a chopper, producing another Sun Devil run.
Two batters later, Cordes couldn’t cleanly field another ball. The ball was hit hard, and it ricocheted off Cordes’s glove all the way to the left field wall. Two runners came in for ASU and the Sun Devils took a healthy 5-2 lead.
“Those were tough chances,” ASU coach Clint Myers said.
Myers thought one of the two should have been recorded as a hit.
After the two home runs, Escobedo didn’t allow another run. She struck out 11 batters, which was a season-high in conference play.
In the fifth inning, Cal put a scare into ASU. The Golden Bears loaded the bases for their best hitter, senior catcher Lindsey Zeigenhirt.
Zeigenhirt gave a ride into a softball, but she flew out to the left-field warning track to end the inning.
In the seventh, junior pitcher Mackenzie Popescue earned her second save of the season. She was in the game, because Cal’s bottom two hitters had three hits off Escobedo in the game.
Reach the reporter at Justin.Janssen@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @jjanssen11
