Senior second baseman Sam Parlich prepares to take a possible ground ball from a Boise State batter on Feb. 10. Parlich tried to relax more on the diamond and react more to the ball, which caused her defensive improvement. (Photo by Sam Rosenbaum)It wasn’t always easy for Sam Parlich.
The senior second baseman for ASU softball battled playing different positions and endured defensive woes.
Now, Parlich is the only senior starter on the Sun Devils contending for a national championship.
In her freshman year, she switched back and forth between the mound and second base. In the team’s first game in 2010, she pitched 1.2 scoreless innings.
“It was an experience,” Parlich said. “I had fun pitching when I did. I had some high points, some low points.”
Her time on the mound didn’t last long. She didn’t pitch in another game after the 2010 season.
After 2010, ASU bolstered its pitching staff. The Sun Devils brought pitchers Mackenzie Popescue and Dallas Escobedo, now juniors, in the next season.
In addition, ASU still had two more years of Hillary Bach on the mound, creating a logjam of pitchers in pursuit of innings.
Parlich didn’t have a great freshman year on the mound, at 7-6 with a 4.32 ERA, but she could have improved on those numbers with more practice.
Instead, she focused on her strength, which was hitting.
“I just wanted to focus more on playing second and hitting and not so much pitching,” Parlich said. “I really didn’t want to pitch anymore because (of) the injuries that I had at the end of my freshman year, my shin splints and my legs.”
At second base, Parlich has excelled with the bat. She ranks second on the team in hits (49) and third in home runs (nine). However, her fielding has often come into question.
Parlich committed three errors in a game earlier this year. She was benched for the next game.
“After I make an error, I try to brush it off and just not think about it and move on and concentrate on the next at-bat,” Parlich said.
Parlich has 10 errors on the season, but only two have come in the last 18 games.
In the beginning of the season, defense was ASU’s biggest Achilles’ heel. Behind the improvement from Parlich, it has become the Sun Devils' strength.
After making 14 errors in the team’s first 10 games, ASU made 19 in their last 36.
In conference play, ASU’s fielding percentage is .986. The Sun Devils' overall fielding percentage is .973, ranking 17th in the country.'
Coach Clint Myers said there is one reason for the improvement.
“Repetition,” Myers said. “They’re a talented bunch of ladies out there. It’s like anything else, a little bit of a cycle. We were struggling earlier, and we started to get better.”
The errors primarily came on ground balls by misreading the ball and letting one error compound into more.
"I'm not thinking as much between pitches," Parlich said. "I’m just reacting.”
Last week, Utah nearly swept ASU. Losing the series was shocking, but getting swept would have been a colossal upset.
In the first two games, Parlich made ASU’s final outs offensively. In Game 1, she hit into a double play ending the eighth inning, and Utah walked off in the bottom of the inning.
In Game 2, with the tying and go-ahead runners in scoring position, she flew out to end the game. The series’ final game gave Parlich a shot at redemption.
ASU trailed by a run in the seventh inning with runners on the corners and one out, and Parlich rescued the team with a three-run home run.
“It felt good,” Parlich said. “It (took) a little pressure and stress off my shoulders but more so I felt for Dallas, because I know she pitches better when ahead.”
It’s not often that a national championship contender has just one senior starter. As the only senior starter, Parlich has to step up in pressure situations.
So far this season she has.
Reach the reporter at Justin.Janssen@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @JJanssen11
