ASU softball had no problem in its finale at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Cathedral City, California, on Sunday afternoon, putting up its best offensive performance on the weekend and winning 11-1 in five innings against Cal Poly.
After losing its first two matchups on the weekend, No. 13 ASU rattled off four consecutive wins to finish 4-2 at the Mary Nutter Classic and improve to 12-4 on the season.
ASU jumpstarted its offense on Sunday as junior outfielder Kindra Hackbarth hit a lead-off single in the first inning. Senior outfielder Morgan Howe followed with a single and sophomore infielder DeNae Chatman did the same, scoring Hackbarth.
On the next at-bat, junior catcher Maddi Hackbarth hit her second home run of the weekend, a three-run blast to give ASU an early 4-0 lead (which, by the way, she capped it with another impressive bat flip).
Cal Poly answered in the second inning with its only run against freshman pitcher Abby Andersen. ASU added some runs with an RBI from Chatman in the third inning and an RBI-single from Howe in the fourth, pushing the ASU lead to 6-1.
ASU put the finishing touches on its win against Cal Poly in the fifth inning when sophomore infielder Bella Loomis lobbed a single barley into the outfield with the bases loaded and Kindra Hackbarth followed with a bases-clearing RBI-triple to give ASU a 10-1 lead.
Howe, who finished 4-for-4 at the plate, lined a single into the outfield to send home Hackbarth, scoring the final run. Andersen closed out the run-rule win, throwing a five-inning complete game as ASU out hit its opposition 14-4.
Up next, ASU will play Princeton, Wisconsin and Texas in Tempe next weeked as it hosts the Sun Devil Classic March 1-3.
Reach the reporter at nahiatt@asu.edu or follow @NATE_HIATT on Twitter.
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