A walk-off grand slam from senior catcher Sashel Palacios sealed Sunday night’s 11-0 win over the Oregon State Beavers (15-14, 0-6 Pac-12) through five innings. It was the grand finale to her explosive week – hitting five home runs and 11 RBIs in four games.
"I feel like I've really channeled my energy towards my teammates' at-bats," Palacios said. "It released some of the pressure from what I felt on top of my shoulders, so I feel like that's what's really helped me regroup."
Palacios started the season hitting .232 after tournament play with only 11 RBIs and one home run.
"I talked about Sash from earlier this season, she started off a little rough and I knew she was coming around, the game knows the work that you put in, and she's continuing," head coach Trisha Ford said.
Since then, she's spiked to .326 and doubled her RBIs with 28 and seven home runs.
Behind Palacios, No. 21 ASU (23-8, 2-3 Pac-12) continued its hot offense and added five home runs on Sunday night – back-to-back home runs in the first and third inning alongside the walk-off grand slam.
Dingers, dingers and more DINGERS@ASUSoftball's 5-homer performance is the @OpusBank #12Best Moment! pic.twitter.com/KBlkh5g8jh
— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) March 27, 2017
The win gave the Sun Devils their first Pac-12 series win of the season, bouncing back from a sweep against the Washington Huskies.
"It definitely boosted our confidence, that was a tough loss out in Washington, but then again we just flipped the page and said that the next team coming out here won't beat us in our house," senior infielder Chelsea Gonzales said.
Gonzales sparked the offense with a three-run home run over the right center wall in the first inning – her eighth of the season. Palacios followed with a no-doubter to left field, her sixth of the season.
In the third inning, redshirt junior infielder Margaret Stahm smashed one over the center-field wall as redshirt junior third baseman Marisa Stankiewicz followed with one to left center, increasing ASU’s lead to 6-0.
Palacios had the team's remaining five RBIs of the game with an RBI single in the fourth followed by the grand slam in the fifth.
Freshman pitcher Giselle Juarez (4-3) pitched a full five innings allowing four hits and two walks, while striking out four for her second complete game shut out of the season.
ASU will finish the series against the Beavers on Monday at 1 p.m. MST.
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