Day one of the Kajikawa Classic was in favor of ASU, which won both of its games by mercy rule on Thursday.
The Sun Devils started off with a big 11-1 win against Utah State.
Sophomore pitcher Breanna Macha started game one of the doubleheader off for ASU and was later replaced by sophomore pitcher Dale Ryndak. Both pitchers played their part, and managed to only allow one run for the Aggies.
Top hitters for this game were sophomore pinch hitter Nichole Chilson and senior left fielder Abby Spiel.
Chilson hit a three-run bomb to right center field at the bottom of the third, which helped the Sun Devils continue the lead 10-1. Spiel went 3-3 with one RBI.
The Sun Devils came up on top with a mercy rule 11-1 win against the Utah State Aggies.
The second game of the day was against the San Jose State Spartans, which didn't go as smoothly for the Sun Devils; the game went scoreless for a whole three innings.
On defense, left fielder Nichole Chilson made a couple impressive plays, going deep into outfield wall and making some over-the-shoulder catches.
Another impressive play came from center fielder Jennifer Soria, with a perfect throw to home plate, which stopped the runner from scoring and giving the Spartans the lead.
Redshirt junior pitcher Kelsey Kessler made her first start in the circle for the Sun Devils. Kessler is a transfer out of Kansas who was forced to sit out all of last season for ASU.
Although it was Kessler’s first career start for the Sun Devils, her previous experience with Kansas really shined through in tonight’s game.
“I was excited to be back out there,” said Kessler. “I waited almost two years to be back in the circle, it feels good to be back.”
Kessler gave up six hits and pitched a total of five innings.
On the offensive side, the Sun Devils took advantage of every opportunity they could when getting the extra base.
Senior catcher Katee Aguirre was a big factor for offense. Aguirre went 2-2 with one RBI.
Soria had a big three-run home run late in the 5th inning, which brought the Sun Devils lead up to 7-0. Soria went 2-for-3 with 4 RBIs.
“I just tried to get my first game, first day jitters out of the way,” said Soria. “That last at bat, I came in the box pretty comfortable.”
The Sun Devils came up with their second win of the day, beating San Jose State 8-0 with another mercy rule.
As Coach Wagner had previously said, offense was really going to focus on playing small ball, and that’s exactly what they did in this game.
The Sun Devils will return to action tomorrow against Tennessee at 7p.m. at Farrington Stadium.
