A rare weekend without a single home run led to No. 23 ASU softball dropping the series against Utah on Sunday.
In its final game against the Utes (33-16, 11-10 Pac-12), ASU fell 4-0 in Tempe.
Freshman Breanna Macha started in the circle for the Sun Devils (30-18, 8-9 Pac-12), pitching a complete game where she allowed 12 hits and four runs.
The start was Macha's second complete game of the weekend.
"It's close to the end of the season," Macha said. "We shouldn't have anything else to learn and we've just got to go out there and compete. I think all the pitchers this weekend did."
Utah took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning thanks to an RBI single by junior Shelby Pacheco, a blooper that made its way past ASU junior Nikki Girard at second base.
Back-to-back singles by sophomore shortstop Chelsea Gonzales and senior catcher Amber Freeman put the Sun Devils in a good position with no outs in the bottom of the fourth. However, ASU squandered an opportunity to put up some runs as senior third baseman Haley Steele popped out to third and induced a double play. Later on, sophomore catcher Sashel Palacios struck out.
Freeman said that her team didn't do a good job of executing its plans on Sunday.
"We just didn't do enough offensively to really make a difference," Freeman said.
The Utes would add to their lead in the top of the fifth with a solo home run from senior Kate Dickman, who was batting .421 coming into this game and is now the team leader in home runs with eight.
After getting herself into a bases loaded jam in the top of the sixth, Macha struck out the final Utah batter of the inning to give her team a chance in the bottom of the frame.
Despite plating two in the sixth, ASU left another chunk of its lineup stranded as senior first baseman Bethany Kemp popped out to the opposing first baseman to end the inning.
Unfortunately for the Sun Devils, Utah would continue to extend its lead in the top of the seventh inning. With two runners in scoring position, senior pinch-hitter Mariah Ramirez (who is normally a pitcher) stepped up to the plate and smacked a two-RBI double to left that put the Utes on top 4-0.
Hoping to ignite a rally in the bottom of the seventh, Palacios and junior Jennifer Soria got themselves a pair of singles before senior right fielder Sierra Rodriguez grounded out.
Senior left fielder Elizabeth Caporuscio was the final chance for ASU, and she failed to capitalize with two runners in scoring position, popping out to the Utah pitcher to end the game.
ASU head coach Craig Nicholson said his team's offensive execution over the last two nights was at a very low level.
"You've got to give some credit to (Utah's) pitchers," Nicholson said. "But we just didn't execute at a high level."
Nicholson said his team has to do a better job of adjusting to what it sees.
"Our offense is good," Nicholson said. "We haven't seen that high level of pitching in a couple of weeks, but we'll go back to doing what we do. It's working offensively –– we just had a couple of bad days."
ASU's next opponent will be the Stanford Cardinal in a three-game road series. Freeman said that her team is hoping to sweep, which would undoubtedly do wonders for the confidence of a slumping Sun Devil squad.
Reach the reporter at rclarke6@asu.edu or follow @RClarkeASU on Twitter.
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