No. 23 ASU softball falls to No. 12 Tennessee 8-5 after leaving 10 runners on base.
The contest began on Monday night with redshirt senior pitcher Cielo Meza taking the circle a day after throwing a no-hitter against Seattle.
Meza ran into trouble in the second, hitting the leadoff batter, who then scored on a double from sophomore catcher Ally Shipman, followed by another RBI double from junior first baseman Ashley Morgan.
The Sun Devils (4-2) could not get anything going all of Monday recording only one hit off the bat of senior catcher Maddi Hackbarth.
Scoring on Monday ended with Meza giving up a three-run home run to sophomore third baseman Kaili Phillips, one run was taken off the board after Phillips was called out for a base running error.
Junior pitcher Madison Preston came in relief of Meza, getting the final out of the third inning.
The rain started to fall and, only one batter into the fourth inning, the game was postponed and resumed the next day.
ASU head coach Trisha Ford approached this unique situation as a positive.
"It is good for us," Ford said. "It wasn't normal, and it wasn't in our comfort zone. It is good for us to face some of this adversity. I look at it as two different games, and the first day we didn't execute very well and today we did a much better job, that's what I like to see."
Preston remained in the circle as the game resumed, striking out the last two batters of the fourth. She struck out seven batters total in four innings of work.
ASU's offense took off in the fifth inning, plating two runs on a ground ball by junior second baseman Bella Loomis and an RBI single from Maddi Hackbarth.
The Sun Devils scored one more run in the sixth courtesy of a single by sophomore outfielder Yannira Acuña, however, they stranded the bases loaded trailing 4-3.
The Lady Vols (3-1) responded to extend the lead, hitting an RBI double and then a three-run home run from junior right fielder Amanda Ayala giving them an 8-3 lead heading to the bottom of the seventh.
The Sun Devils attempted to come back once again, scoring two runs in the inning but ultimately leaving the tying run at the plate, losing 8-5.
The Sun Devils will look to respond Feb. 14 in a doubleheader against Illinois State and Kentucky starting at 4:30 p.m. MST at Farrington Stadium.
Reach the reporter at kbdyer2@asu.edu and follow @TheKamDyer on Twitter.
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