The ASU softball team saw its ace pitcher dominate in the circle and its powerful lineup score plenty of runs en route to a weekend sweep at the Wilson/DeMarini Classic.
The No. 7 Sun Devils (17-1) extended their winning streak to 13 games with five more victories.
The ASU hitters did their damage at the plate by scoring a combined 54 runs on 53 hits to outscore their opponents 54-2.
In the opening game on Friday, ASU handed East Carolina an 11-0 loss before defeating Northern Iowa 6-1 later that evening. The Sun Devils then claimed the 9-0 victory over Northern Colorado and a 17-0 thumping of New Mexico State on Saturday.
ASU closed out the tournament with an 11-1 win over Creighton on Sunday.
Freshman pitcher Dallas Escobedo took command in the circle with three more wins, improving to 10-0 on the season. Freshman Mackenzie Popescue also posted her fourth win.
“I think being aggressive and swinging our bats up at the plate has been really working for us this weekend,” senior first baseman Mandy Urfer said. “We really took some great hacks. We were aggressive, and we were smart base runners.”
Escobedo started against the Pirates (16-5) on Friday and shut down the ECU lineup by notching 10 strikeouts and scattering three hits over five innings.
The Panthers (9-6) took the field against ASU in the nightcap on Friday.
Sophomore second baseman Sam Parlich got the scoring started with a sacrifice fly in the first inning, and Parlich then added to ASU’s lead by plating two runs on a single in the fifth.
Escobedo would come on in relief and nail down the save.
The Sun Devils returned to action on Saturday against the Bears (1-13). Popescue started in the circle for ASU and proceeded to throw a shutout over five innings.
However, it was all about the ASU offense against Northern Colorado. Parlich got the scoring started in the bottom of the first with a solo home run to center.
Urfer then smacked a solo home run to left in the bottom of the fourth, Parlich added another home run in the bottom of the fifth and senior catcher Lacy Goodman unloaded on a walk-off grand slam to give ASU the 9-0 win in the bottom of the fifth.
“I was trying to be more aggressive than my other two at-bats,” Goodman said. “I knew what pitch was coming, and that’s usually my go to area, the outside. I put a good swing on it and I connected really well.”
In Saturday’s second game, ASU faced New Mexico State (17-5), and wasted no time in pushing runs across the plate.
Parlich continued her hot hitting by crushing another home run in the first inning to push her season total to six.
Escobedo held the Aggie lineup hitless until allowing a single in the top of the fifth inning. She would finish with eight strikeouts and no walks.
“I felt really good,” Escobedo said. “The crowd was crazy so I was trying not to pay attention. I felt good throughout the whole game. I had a no-hitter going, but I think I jinxed myself right when I pitched that pitch, but it happens.”
In the weekend finale on Sunday, it was more of the same for the red hot ASU hitters against the Creighton Bluejays (7-8).
A three-run home run from senior centerfielder Lesley Rogers gave ASU a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the second. Junior right fielder Annie Lockwood added a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth to push the lead to 10-1, then ASU would tack on one more to win 11-1.
The team entered the weekend hoping to improve in various aspects of its game, something coach Clint Myers thinks they accomplished.
“I think we’re getting better,” Myers said. “We still got some areas to get better in, but some of our areas where we were not firing as well as we should have, we are doing a better job. You can see that there’s knowledge at work out there, and they’re getting better.”
Reach the reporter at gregory.dillard@asu.edu
