By Scott Mammoser
TEMPE, Ariz. – It had been four years – an entire senior
class ago – since Arizona State last hosted an NCAA Softball Championship
Regional. In response, Giselle Juarez pitched 10 strikeouts and the
eighth-seeded Sun Devils shut down New Mexico State, 2-0, on Friday night.
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| Pac-12 Coach of the Year Trisha Ford leading team to victory |
Morgan Howe drove in two runners in the top of the first,
before being thrown out at third base, as the Sun Devils took the early lead.
That would be all they needed from the offense, but after six hit-less innings
from Juarez, ASU survived a scare in the seventh. Two-time WAC Player of the
Year Kelsey Horton, hitting over .400, sent the first pitch of the top of the
seventh to deep left for a single.
“It took us some time before we figured her out,” Horton
said of Juarez. “Unfortunately, it had to be the last inning, but we were on
her.”
First baseman Fahren Glackin followed Horton with a single
to center that could have been extra bases if not for the defensive efforts of
ASU right fielder Kindra Hackbarth, knocking down the ball with her mitt. A
walk loaded the bases with one out. Then, pinch hitter Shelby Shultes hit a line
drive
to third, where Taylor Becerra picked off the lead runner to end the game.
“The first game is always hard,” said ASU coach Trisha Ford,
who was recently named Pac-12 Coach of the Year. “We do a really good job of
when we put up runs, ‘G’ (Juarez) closes it out. The pitching coach would like
to have more runs, but we are who we are, and I think we do a good job of
complementing them.”
The Sun Devils (44-11) and Aggies (29-22) met at two
different times this regular season, with ASU winning 3-0 and 5-1.
“It was nerve racking and took me back to the beginning of
the season,” the freshman Howe said. “I had butterflies, but they were the good
ones.”
In the opening game on Friday, freshman designated player
Abbey Latham smacked two home runs to lead Ole Miss over Long Beach State 9-1.
Latham, batting merely .224, hit only four home runs on the season until
now. She led off the sixth with a solo
shot to left, then found herself on deck with one out in the seventh and
delivered a two-run homer, as the Rebels scored five in the final inning.
The Sun Devils and Rebels (31-23) will meet in the winner’s
bracket at 2 p.m. on Saturday, with New Mexico State and Long Beach State (42-13)
following them. The loser of the first game and the victor of the second will
play one more elimination game on Saturday night for the right to face the
early winner on Sunday night at 6 p.m.
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