Rather than sailing over the fence, the ball sailed over the opposing shortstop's head in ASU softball's walk-off victory over Oregon State on Sunday.
In the rubber match against the Beavers (24-19, 5-13 Pac-12), the No. 21 Sun Devils (29-16, 7-7 Pac-12) escaped 4-3 thanks in part to an error on the final play of the game.
Freshman Dale Ryndak took the circle for the second consecutive day for ASU, pitching four and one-third innings and giving up seven hits and two runs to go along with five strikeouts. Fellow freshman Breanna Macha entered for relief in the fifth.
"I thought (Ryndak and Macha) both pitched well in their games on Friday and Saturday," ASU head coach Craig Nicholson said postgame. "And I thought they did a nice job today. They made some big pitches at some big times."
Ryndak said that she felt very in control of herself in the circle on Sunday.
"I felt like I had really good command over my pitches," Ryndak said. "I think I was still throwing some gas, but I think my drop ball really helped today."
The Sun Devils got out to an early lead in the bottom of the second, going up 1-0 on the solo home run by senior first baseman Bethany Kemp. The home run, Kemp's 34th of her career, moved her to tenth all-time in ASU history.
Speaking of ASU history, senior catcher Amber Freeman (fourth in school history for home runs with 55) crushed a two-run shot to center in the bottom of the third to give the Sun Devils a 3-0 advantage.
Freeman said that she and her team are still not satisfied with their overall performance, despite the series victory.
"We still feel like we need to be better in all aspects of the game," Freeman said. "But good teams find ways to win. It wasn't pretty (today), but we got the W."
Oregon State broke their offensive seal in the fourth, getting a two-RBI single from freshman Alysha Everett to cut the deficit down to 3-2 in favor of the Sun Devils.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Beavers tied things up off of an RBI single by senior Hannah Akamine after Macha entered to relieve Ryndak.
With a chance to break the tie in the top of the seventh, Oregon State loaded the bases but couldn't capitalize, leaving all three stranded.
In the bottom of the final frame, sophomore shortstop Chelsea Gonzales reached on a fielder's choice, but the Beavers' second error of the inning did them in and brought home junior Breona Peralta, ending the game in unusual fashion.
Nicholson said that his team did a lot of things right defensively on Sunday, but could have performed far better in the batters box.
"I thought we really struggled offensively today," Nicholson said. "We've gotta be better than that. We have to hit more line drives and stay on top of the ball."
ASU's next game will be the first of a weekend series against Utah, with first pitch scheduled for 5 p.m. at Farrington Stadium.
Reach the reporter at rclarke6@asu.edu or follow @RClarkeASU on Twitter.
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