BATON ROUGE, La. – If there's anything to be learned from this ASU softball season it's that you can never count them out.
Down eight runs to UCLA? Walk-off win.
And down 2-0 to Nebraska after blowing numerous scoring opportunities?
A five-run inning led by senior first baseman Bethany Kemp's bases-clearing double gave the Sun Devils a 5-2 victory over Nebraska to begin the Baton Rouge regional.
"I just think our team just have that never die attitude," Kemp said. "I think that showed this game. We kept coming back no matter what the score was, we just kept fighting."
Video by Justin Janssen | Sports Reporter
Nebraska pitcher Emily Lockman (18-13) allowed 11 free passes (one hit by pitch), which included two messes she escaped in the first and fourth after loading the bases all on walks.
For five innings, the game stayed scoreless, a major surprise given the offensive powerhouses both squads have. Nebraska set its program record for runs, and was on pace to do so for batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging.
In the top of the sixth, the Huskers appeared to grab momentum off a sacrifice fly. Then came a nearly one-hour rain delay, the third of the game. (There was a one-hour delay before first pitch and a brief pause to apply dirt on the mound and infield.)
Nebraska extended its lead to 2-0 on an RBI single after the weather break, but it all unraveled in the bottom of the frame after shortstop Alicia Armstrong threw a potential inning-ending double play ball to the right field line. Junior Abby Spiel scored all the way from first with junior second baseman Nikki Girard advancing to third.
"That was just a fundamental error; it was just a physical error," Nebraska coach Rhonda Revelle said. "She picked up her head a little bit too early and made a poor throw. That happens. Things happen; it was just a physical error. It wasn't a mental error."
Later in the inning, the Sun Devils were once again with the bases loaded, and Kemp delivered the hit the Sun Devils had been searching all game for (ASU had one hit prior).
"I kind of had an idea going up there that I was looking for the same pitch she had been throwing me the whole game," Kemp said. "My whole thought was to make something happen, and that's my job."
Freshman Breanna Macha (17-11) started for the Sun Devils and was efficient early on, only throwing 38 pitches through four innings. She ran into some trouble with three-ball counts in the fifth and sixth innings, but finished off the win with a complete game effort.
Macha allowed six hits and two runs to go along with no walks and three strikeouts. She said her changeup and curveball were effective for her.
"She was ahead in the counts early," Nebraska center fielder Kiki Stokes said, who was 2-for-3 and broke up a streak of nine straight retired by Macha. "We watched a lot of pitches and swung at pitches that we shouldn't have swung at."
ASU moves on to face either Texas Southern or LSU at 9 a.m. Arizona time in the winner's bracket.
Reach the reporter at jmjanss1@asu.edu or follow @jjanssen11 on Twitter
Like State Press Sports on Facebook and follow @statepresssport on Twitter
