After an opening weekend showing in the Kajikawa Classic, the Sun Devils' offense scored just 20 runs in five games. However, that was enough to go 4-1 and get ranked No. 22 before their second weekend of action.
In the first five games of the season, ASU relied heavily on its pitching, helping carry them to that start, with the only loss coming to No. 3 Oklahoma by a score of 2-1.
READ MORE: ASU softball pitching staff shines in opening weekend
That script completely flipped in the Littlewood Invitational. The Sun Devil bats came to life over the course of six wins, scoring a mind-boggling 62 runs, leading ASU to a likely boost in the rankings.
"Can I have 18 runs every single time we play a doubleheader?" head coach Megan Bartlett joked following the first day of the tournament. "The strength of this offense is that we do have a lot of depth and a lot of different weapons. One to nine in that lineup, anybody can get the job done."
The first day of the tournament saw the Sun Devils beat Portland State in game one, then rally to defeat Indiana 7-6. Even with senior All-American pitcher Kenzie Brown struggling, the ASU offense picked her up to collect another quality victory.
"I will take it," Bartlett said. "Indiana is a great team that is going to be a postseason team that's going to do really well in the Big Ten, so yeah, the bats came alive today."
Redshirt senior centerfielder Kaylee Pond played a major role in turning the offense around. Pond clubbed two home runs on day one. This included a three-run bomb in the fifth inning to flip the Indiana game around in favor of the Sun Devils.
"I got to give credit to the coaching staff," Pond said. "They really calmed me down. I have a tendency of getting in my head a little bit. They just said 'Trust your athletic abilities and try to find the inside seam,' so that's what I did."
Pond also played a crucial role in taking down Nevada on day two, scoring two runs and driving in another in the fifth inning to continue the ASU winning streak.
"Doing stuff like that when you are really playing for your team, it just makes it that much more special," Pond said.
The wins against Indiana and Nevada should not be overlooked as quality wins for the Sun Devils, according to Bartlett.
"We had to grind it out for that one," Bartlett said. "Nevada is a very good team; they won 40-plus games last season. (We) got into a little bit of trouble early, but really proud of the offense continuing to put pressure and chip away and grind out runs."
With the toughest part of the weekend in the rear view mirror, the Sun Devils didn't hold back on the back half of the invitational.
Valentine's Day saw the Sun Devils show no love to the Portland State pitchers, scoring 20 runs in five innings before putting up another nine runs against Pacific heading into the final day.
In a rematch against Pacific, the Sun Devils' bats dominated again in an 8-0 victory with contributions up and down the lineup to conclude the tournament.
"(Opponents) know if they get a leadoff runner on, we are real, real dangerous," Bartlett said. "We know how to move runners, we know how to drive in runners, so I think that is what you are seeing."
After the first weekend saw the pitching staff do much of the heavy lifting, the offense seemed to carry much of the load during the Littlewood Invitational.
"It's easy going in with a lead, with a lot of runs on the board," Brown said. "No matter what I was going to do, I knew the offense was going to pick me up."
Especially in the first couple of days of the tournament, with the pitchers struggling to find the groove they had in the first weekend, the bats picked up the slack.
"I mean the offense works really, really hard," Brown said. "Day in, day out, they just grind. I knew that they were capable of it, and it's just really great to see them come through."
As the Sun Devils close out the weekend 6-0 and 10-1 overall, the team will get to rest until Feb. 20 when they host the Sun Devil Classic. As the Sun Devils try to replicate this weekend's scoring production moving forward, Bartlett's message to the offense was clear: Keep it simple.
Edited by Alan Deutschendorf, Henry Smardo and Ellis Preston.
Reach the reporter at mseal6@asu.edu and follow @masonseal23 on X.
Like The State Press on Facebook and follow @statepress on X.
Mason Seal is a reporter in the sports department. He provides intel and paints stories about many different sports for The State Press. He is in his third semester at The State Press.
