The ASU softball team hopes to continue its early season success and dominant offense as it hosts the Littlewood Classic at Farrington Stadium this weekend.
After finishing the annual Kajikawa Classic with a 5-1 record, the No. 5 Sun Devils are off to their best offensive start in the last four seasons.
Through six games, the Sun Devils have scored more runs than any of those seasons. ASU’s 56 runs last weekend dwarfed last season’s 38. That total gives the team an average of 9.3 runs per game, three more than this point in 2009.
The hot start puts the Sun Devils on pace for 520 runs on the season, a giant leap from last season’s 440.
The increased run production comes even though the team has only one more hit at this point than it did in 2009.
“It was our attitude,” junior catcher Kaylyn Castillo said of why the offense has come out so strong. “Against Kentucky, we didn’t really stay in the zone. That’s a mental adjustment we have to make quicker.”
The increased run production could be attributed to an apparent increase in power.
So far, the team has 15 total home runs, including five from sophomore shortstop Katelyn Boyd, for an average of 2.5 per game. Through six games, ASU had only six home runs in 2009.
“We can’t rely on the long ball,” Castillo said. “We can all hit home runs, but I would rather us drive in runs than hit them all out of the park. We need to manufacture runs.”
ASU coach Clint Myers attributed the offense’s increased production to improved patience at the plate. Notorious free-swingers are now taking walks and waiting for better pitches, Myers said.
Asked if he thinks this scorching offense will continue, Myers did not hesitate to offer a confident “no.”
“I hope it gets better,” Myers said. “I don’t think we’re doing all the things we can do as players to have that consistency.”
Myers noted ASU’s two-run and three-run performances against Kentucky and Southern Utah as evidence that his offense needs to produce consistently from game to game.
The Sun Devils hope to be more consistent and improve little things this weekend as they play five games in their second tournament of the season.
ASU opens on Friday against Rutgers and Illinois State followed by Texas State and Iowa on Saturday. The tournament wraps up on Sunday afternoon, as ASU will again take on Rutgers.
The ASU offense will be tested in Saturday’s set, as Texas State and UI ranked sixth and seventh, respectively, in the nation in team ERA in 2009. Texas State returns sophomore pitcher Chandler Hall, who went 25-11 with a 1.17 ERA and was the Southland Conference Pitcher of the Year last season.
Three pitchers will again take the mound for ASU, Myers said, as sophomore Hillary Bach (2-0) and senior Megan Elliott (2-1) will pitch two games apiece, and freshman Sam Parlich (1-0) will get one. Bach and Parlich have combined to allow just five hits and no runs.
Although Myers was pleased with the outcome of the Kajikawa Classic, he is not content to “lose one out of every six games” and said he expects tough competition in every game of the Littlewood Classic.
“We can’t worry about who we’re playing,” Myers said. “As long as we play the brand of softball we know we can play, good things will happen.”
Reach the reporter at tlockman@asu.edu
