ASU softball hits 4 HRs to win regional opener
Arizona State softball got the scoring started early with two-run and three-run home runs in the bottom of the first inning as the Sun Devils cruised to a 9-3 win over North Carolina to open regional play Friday in Oxford, Miss.
ASU starter Breanna Macha allowed three runs – two earned – in the first inning before settling down and not allowing another run the rest of the way. Macha allowed four hits and three walks, while striking out five over seven innings.
Shortstop Chelsea Gonzales led ASU with two home runs and three RBIs. Margaret Stahm and Brynley Steele also hit home runs, with Steele’s extending ASU’s lead to 8-3 in the third inning.
North Carolina starter Brittany Pickett lasted only 1/3 of an inning with five earned runs.
The Sun Devils will take on regional host Ole Miss at 11:30 a.m. Saturday.
UA softball run rules New Mexico State in opener
Led by outfielder Mandie Perez, the No. 2 national seed Arizona Wildcats hit three home runs in the first three innings of an 11-0, five-inning victory over New Mexico State Friday at Hillenbrand Stadium in Tucson.
UA starter Danielle O’Toole tossed three shutout innings, walking one and striking out four.
Katiyana Mauga tied the Pac-12 career home run record with a two-run shot in the first inning. She also just missed a grand slam when New Mexico State outfielder Rachel Rodriguez made a catch at the fence in the fourth.
Perez went 2-for-3 with four RBIs and a home run. Arizona sent 11 batters to the plate to break the game open in the third inning.
The Wildcats will play South Carolina, who beat Saint Francis earlier on Friday, at 2 p.m. Saturday.
UA baseball edges ASU in series opener Thursday
When reliever Connor Higgins struck out Arizona’s leading hitter, JJ Matijevic, with the bases loaded and no outs in the seventh inning Thursday night, Arizona State had hope of escaping a major jam in a tie game.
Instead, No. 19 UA scored two runs on a sacrifice bunt and another on the inning’s second error to take a threerun lead in a 6-5 victory at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
By winning the Pac-12 rivalry series opener, the Wildcats took a 2-1 season series lead over ASU.
The top of the seventh started badly for ASU with a fielding error by shortstop Andrew Snow. Tiring starter Eder Erives walked Cal Stevenson on four pitches and Jared Oliva singled to left, loading the bases. ASU coach Tracy Smith brought in Higgins, who fanned Matijevic on three pitches.
Alfonso Rivas bunted toward first base and was thrown out by Higgins but not before two runs scored. A third unearned run came across on Snow’s second error of the inning, a low throw to first base.
Erives (1-4) took the loss despite one of his best senior outings in his final home appearance. He worked six-plus innings with six hits and three earned runs.
Zach Cerbo hit a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh, but ASU could not overcome a third deficit like it did when trailing 1-0 and 3-1. The Sun Devils stranded two in the eighth and one at second base in the ninth after scoring their final run on a passed ball.
“That’s one for the taking tonight,” ASU coach Tracy Smith said. “We had a couple of miscues. We make the plays defensively, we’re probably coming out of here with a different result. That’s been a little bit of our song all season. We have not had solid middle infield play, which is something we plan to address moving forward. But I’m not going to fault the effort on the guys. They kept battling.”
Second baseman Carter Aldrete, who had three hits, said, “Eder threw his tail off tonight. It would have gone way better if we had capitalized defensively, but that’s how it goes sometimes.”
Matijevic broke a 1-1 tie in the fifth with a two-out, two-run double to the right field corner off Erives.
ASU’s Gage Canning cut the deficit in the fifth with his team-high sixth home run, a one-out solo shot to right field. Then with the bases loaded and two outs, UA starter JC Cloney threw an 0-2 wild pitch to Carter Aldrete, scoring the tying run.
Cloney exited after 5 1/3 innings, giving up six hits and three runs with seven strikeouts.
– Jeff Metcalfe ASU baserunner Zach Cerbo is tagged out trying to steal second base by UA’s Kyle Lewis on Friday in Phoenix. With a 3-1 loss, ASU sealed its first losing season since 1985. Visit for more.