Senior infielder Chelsea Gonzales is second on the team in batting average and that showed Wednesday as she led the Sun Devils to a 9-0 victory over the Maine Black Bears.
Gonzales, batting .364 on the season, came to the batter’s box in the bottom of the first with two Sun Devils on base and crushed the first pitch she saw over the left-field wall for a three-run home run, putting ASU ahead 3-0 early.
E1: Sun Devils take a 3-0 lead off Gonzales' fourth homer of the season! #IgniteTheFight
— Sun Devil Softball (@ASUSoftball) March 9, 2017
It was Gonzales’ third home run on the season, totaling 14 RBIs, tied for most on the team.
Wednesday night's home run moved Gonzales to 10th on ASU softball's all-time home run list with 35 in her career, tying Bethany Kemp.
“My focus of the game today was to be aggressive first pitch,” Gonzales said. "I just saw it really well so I just took a hack at it. That’s what we’ve been practicing all week is just to be more aggressive in the box.”
That aggression in the box continued to show, but a little later than than head coach Trisha Ford would’ve liked.
After the three-run first inning, the Sun Devils offense slowed down, scoring one run through two innings. Ford was not going to settle for a four-run lead.
“I was a little disappointed with our energy, so I had a good talk with them before the fourth inning, before we hit, and I thought they responded well,” Ford said. “That’s our expectation, it doesn’t matter who we’re playing, doesn’t matter what the score is, we get in that box and pound the ball.”
Following Ford’s talk, ASU came out strong, putting up five runs in the fourth inning.
Junior infielder Margaret Stahm ignited the offense with a lead-off single to right field, followed by three consecutive singles from teammates Brianna Wise, Taylor Becerra and Skylar McCarty.
Following the singles parade came back-to-back doubles off the bats of freshman Randi Farricker and red-hot Gonzales. ASU jumped to a 9-0 lead going into the fifth inning.
Lost in the midst of the explosive offense was freshman pitcher Alyssa Loza’s dominating performance.
Loza (4-0), went five innings allowing just three hits and striking out 10. She has yet to allow an earned run in her 19 innings pitched this season.
Her teammates have been motivated to back her up offensively with the way she’s performed on the mound.
“It’s awesome,” Becerra said. “Sometimes they get really nervous when adversity hits, but I think it’s really important that we’re talking to them during the inning, just picking them up, letting them know we’re right behind them.”
The Sun Devils will need to continue their winning momentum going into this weekend’s matchup against the Nebraska Huskies, beginning Friday at 7:00 p.m. MST.
“Nebraska is very scrappy.” Ford said. “I think that traditionally they’ve been a team that never dies.”
The Huskies are ASU’s last opponent before entering conference play next weekend.
“For us that’s going back to our process, great for us to have to experience, because that’s what Pac-12 is all about, every game grinding out,” Ford said.
Reach the reporter at leon.annaliese13@gmail.com or follow @lieseleon on Twitter.
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