Home runs bury Minnesota, 8-0 (5); No. 3 Softball remains undefeated
Remaining undefeated through two weekends of tournaments at Farrington Stadium, the Arizona State softball team (12-0) buried the Minnesota Gophers 8-0 in five innings, Feb. 17.
Dallas Escobedo was dealing from the start, retiring Minnesota's (3-6) first two batters of the game, bumping her season total to 71. The ace would finish the game with nine strikeouts in the one-hit mercy rule shutout. Escobedo, now 8-0, has 78 strikeouts through 45.2 innings this year.
ASU's pitching got what it needed from the Sun Devil offense in the third with two runs, 2-0. Cheyenne Coyle had a well-placed bunt to reach first as Arizona State worked against two outs. Amber Freeman drove in her fifth homer of the year, a long shot dead center to put ASU on top.
For the ninth time this season ASU has registered multiple home runs in a game. Lucy Aubrecht extended the multiple-homer streak to four-straight games with a glow ball to left in the fourth, 3-0.
Minnesota could not handle Arizona State in the fifth, giving up five additional runs which eventually doomed the Gophers to an 8-0 mercy rule. The Devils scored the five runs on five hits while Coyle, Elizabeth Caporuscio, Haley Steele and Bethany Kemp all had RBI hits.
Steele and Coyle both went 2-for-3 hitting. Steele had two RBI and Coyle crossed home twice.
Up Next:
Softball hosts a four-game series against Portland State starting Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. ASU's Strikeout Cancer games are Saturday, Feb. 23, with the doubleheader beginning at 4:30 p.m. Fans who wear pink will receive a $5 general admission ticket! ASU will auction the pink game-worn jersey's after the 7 p.m. game. The Sun Devils close the series on Sunday at 12 p.m.
Notes:
ASU, currently sitting at 12-0, is hunting down 2007's 15-0 start. If the Sun Devils keep rolling the best start in program history was 19-0 in 2006, Clint Myers' first season at ASU.
Sunday's crowd of 1,328 is the largest at Farrington this season.
Amber Freeman's home run in the third is her fifth of the season and 17th in her career. She is tied for 17th in the career record book.
ASU has put up multiple home runs in nine games thus far. They are currently on a four-game multiple homer streak dating back to Feb. 15 against Michigan State.
The team has had two games with three home runs (Indiana and Illinois State). Total, ASU has 21 home runs on the year (opponents have four) and have home runs in 10 of 12 games.
Against Minnesota, ASU started eight players in the lineup who had already recorded a home run.
After the weekend, in career records:
Home runs
13th, Sam Parlich, 18
13th, Alix Johnson, 18
17th, Elizabeth Caporuscio, 17
17th, Amber Freeman, 17
RBI
17th, Alix Johnson, 94
20th, Sam Parlich, 89
Doubles
19th, Alix Johnson, 22
Wins
6th, Dallas Escobedo, 69
Strikeouts
5th, Dallas Escobedo, 639