No. 17 ASU softball swept the final day of the ASU Invitational with a pair of run-rule victories over Lehigh and Ohio State.
Junior pitcher Madison Preston collected her fourth win of the season in a complete game performance where she struck out six batters and only allowed one hit in the win over OSU.
Lehigh
ASU (21-7) defeated the Mountain Hawks (7-7) in five innings for the second time this weekend by a score of 9-0.
Freshman pitcher Lindsay Lopez took the circle for her second career start. Looking like a veteran, she pitched 3.2 scoreless innings.
The offense started off by not being able to string hits together, however, the first two hits were solo home runs from senior catcher Maddi Hackbarth in the first inning and junior third baseman Kiara Kennedy in the third.
Lopez ran into some trouble, allowing two runners on in the top of the fourth via two singles. Head coach Trisha Ford called upon senior pitcher Samantha Mejia for relief who escaped the jam.
The Sun Devils tallied two more runs in the bottom of the fourth with RBIs off the bats of freshman utility player Jordyn VanHook and Kennedy, giving ASU a 4-0 lead.
Mejia sat down the Mountain Hawks in order in the fifth, which would end up being the last outs she would need.
Sophomore utility player Mailey McLemore hit a double scoring freshman right fielder Jazmine Hill, who reached base on a leadoff walk in the Sun Devil fifth.
The bats continued their hot streak with freshman shortstop Alynah Torres driving in McLemore with a single.
Two batters later Vanhook ended the game with one swing of the bat, hitting a three-run home run securing the 9-0 run-rule victory for the Sun Devils.
Ohio State
ASU continued their high powered offense from the end of game one, scoring eight runs in the first two innings en route to a run-rule victory over the Buckeyes (8-9).
The 30 minute break between the two games could not cool down the Sun Devils' offense as it got right back to work in the first inning where ten batters came to the plate.
The first of the runs came on a bases loaded walk by junior infielder Bella Loomis. Torres followed up with an RBI single up the middle.
Junior infielder Halle Harger broke the game open with a three RBI single, giving the Sun Devils a 5-0 lead after the first.
The second inning began with two more base runners, with Hill drawing a walk and then Maddi Hackbarth ripping a single.
Loomis once again brought the runners home, this time with a three run home run to right-center field, putting the Sun Devils in run-rule territory after only the second inning.
Preston was up to the challenge of shutting down the Buckeye offense. She kept the batters off balance with an astounding five strikeouts looking on the day.
Junior first baseman DeNae Chatman added some insurance for the Sun Devils in the fourth, hitting a solo home run, giving her five on the season.
Preston secured the final two outs of the game with back-to-back strikeouts, giving the Sun Devils their second 9-0 victory of the day.
The Sun Devils will have Monday off before returning to Alberta B. Farrington Softball Stadium on Tuesday, March 10, to take on South Dakota at 6:00 p.m. MST.
Reach the reporter at kbdyer2@asu.edu and follow @TheKamDyer on Twitter.
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