OKLAHOMA CITY — The path to the championship took a dramatic turn for the worse for the ASU softball team in its first game of the Women’s College World Series against Texas.
Sophomore outfielder Elizabeth Caporuscio couldn’t save a second wind-aided fly ball from going over the fence, leading to Texas' 6-3 win over ASU. The loss pushed the Sun Devils' season to the brink of elimination.
ASU will face either No. 8 Michigan or No. 1 Oklahoma June 1 in an elimination game at 11:30 a.m. PT. ASU will need to win its next four games to advance to the national championship series.
“There is some softball yet to play,” ASU coach Clint Myers said, “Don’t count the (Sun) Devils out. Again, this is a good ball club that has the capability of playing very, very well.”
Tied 2-2 in the fifth inning, Texas senior designated player Kim Bruins hit a fly ball off sophomore outfielder Elizabeth Caporuscio’s glove and the softball ricocheted over the left-field fence for a go-ahead home run.
Texas took a 4-2 lead at the time and the Longhorns added two pivotal insurance runs in the sixth to capture the victory.
Both teams featured season veterans on the mound in junior pitcher Dallas Escobedo pitching for the Sun Devils and senior pitcher Blaire Luna in the circle for the Longhorns.
Entering the game, the two aces combined for 701 strikeouts, and Luna came in game averaging 11.7 strikeouts per seven innings, best in the nation.
Through four innings, the pitching duel lived up to its billing and neither team recorded a hit.
Luna recorded eight strikeouts in the first four innings and didn’t allow a ball to reach the outfield, while Escobedo fanned four in that timeframe.
Bruins put a scare into ASU in the second, when a seemingly routing fly ball to left field carried to the wall, foreshadowing the winning play later. Caporuscio reached her glove up, and took a home run away from Bruins.
The Sun Devils finally solved Luna in the fifth, but Texas adjusted to Escobedo as well.
“The hitters, I think, really even in warm-ups were confident in regards to what they were going to look for, and we had to establish what the strike zone was going to be with our particular umpire,” Texas head coach Connie Clark said. “I just thought we made great adjustments and looked very focused.”
ASU’s offense erupted with three consecutive hits in the inning, capped off by junior outfielder Alix Johnson’s two run-double
Their lead would then be short-lived.
With two runners on and two outs in the bottom of the frame, Texas junior shortstop Taylor Thom delivered the tying two-out double to right field. ASU junior outfielder Bailey Wigness made her first error of the season on the play when her throw home landed up the third base line, and the tying run scored.
“It’s a situation where we’ve got to come out and play Arizona State softball,” Myers said. “Had we done that tonight, we probably would have won … It has to be pitch better, hit better, field it better, throw better.”
Bruins, the very next batter, punished ASU on the following play with the pivotal home run off Caporuscio’s glove.
ASU responded with a homer to begin the sixth, but couldn’t clench any closer.
Reach the reporter at Justin.Janssen@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @jjanssen11
