Senior designated player Amber Freeman hits a double in a game against Cal on Saturday, March 21, 2015 at Farrington Softball Stadium in Tempe. The Sun Devils defeated the Golden Bears 6-5. (Kat Simonovic/The State Press)
Not every comeback attempt ends with a walk-off home run.
In game two of three against the No. 12 California Golden Bears (23-5, 2-3 Pac-12), No. 21 ASU softball (21-10, 2-2 Pac-12) came up short in the clutch, a rarity this season, and fell 6-5.
Freshman Dale Ryndak took the circle for the Sun Devils and pitched 6.1 innings, giving up 10 hits and five runs for her fourth loss of the season.
Ryndak was in a jam early with two runners on base and one of Cal's best power hitters up to bat, but then senior third basemen Haley Steele made a dazzling 5-5-3 double play to make sure ASU escaped the top of the first unscathed.
In the top of the third, senior first baseman Bethany Kemp made a double play of her own, unassisted, to end that inning and prevent Cal from dealing any damage to the Sun Devils.
Junior second baseman Nikki Girard dealt the damage for ASU on the offense side in the third inning, crushing a solo home run to right-center field to give the Sun Devils their first lead at 1-0.
Another run scored on a fielder's choice later in the inning, pushing the advantage to 2-0 in favor of ASU.
California came back strong in the fourth inning, getting a solo home run to lead things off from senior Danielle Henderson to cut the ASU lead in half.
Soon after, the Golden Bears scored one more run on an error by sophomore Chelsea Gonzales in short, tying things up at two apiece before loading the bases on the very next at-bat.
In the bottom of the fifth with the bases loaded, senior catcher Amber Freeman stepped up to the plate and hit a sac-fly to right that brought home junior center fielder Abby Spiel, giving ASU a 3-2 lead.
One inning later, Kemp walked into the batters box and sent a home run screaming over the left field fence, putting the Sun Devils up 4-2.
Bethany Kemp with the solo home run to put ASU up 4-2! https://t.co/lNc1PwSCII— Ryan Clarke (@RClarkeASU) March 22, 2015
ASU head coach Craig Nicholson saw plenty of positives at the plate from his team.
"I really felt like we had pretty good at-bats today for the most part," Nicholson said. "Overall I didn't think we played badly –– we just got a little unlucky."
ASU's unlucky inning was undoubtedly the final one. California had one final chance to tie or take the lead facing a two-run deficit, and it did the latter. The Golden Bears' offense caught fire after a slow first six innings, notching four runs on four hits in the seventh to take a 6-4 lead.
With a comeback in place for ASU after an RBI single by Steele in the bottom of the seventh, Kemp could not repeat her clutch performances of the past and popped out to the second basemen to end the game.
Nicholson appreciates the fight that his team exhibited despite the loss.
"The best thing in that game, even though you come away with the loss, is the fact that after we give up four runs in the seventh inning we don't hang our heads," Nicholson said. "We love that part about this team."
The rubber match between ASU and California will be on Sunday at 11 a.m. at Farrington Stadium.
Reach the reporter at rclarke6@asu.edu or follow @RClarkeASU on Twitter.
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