STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford could not contain No. 24/23 Arizona State’s offense that caught fire Friday night, falling to the Sun Devils 20-0 in five innings.
The Cardinal (16-33, 1-18 Pac-12) hit the ball hard but the Sun Devils (31-18, 9-9 Pac-12) played sound defense and capitalized on Stanford’s pitching staff, which consists solely of position players due to injuries to starting pitchers, to earn a convincing victory.
Lauren Bertoy and Alyssa Lombardo registered Stanford’s two hits in the game. Savannah Schulze and Bessie Noll made nice plays in the outfield to provide the Cardinal’s defensive highlights.
Erin Ashby (0-3) made her first start of the season at pitcher and went 2.1 innings before being relieved by freshman Kaitlyn Lagattuta who finished the final 2.2 innings. The duo did their best to battle through a tough Arizona State lineup.
“I really appreciate Kaitlyn coming in and doing a tough job, especially as a freshman,” said Stanford head coach Rachel Hanson. “Both pitchers stepped up in that role and helped out the team.”
Arizona State capitalized on three hits and a pair of walks in the first inning to jump out to an early 2-0 lead.
Schulze provided a defensive highlight for Stanford in the top of the second inning with a nice catch in right field. Ashby did well in the circle to keep ASU off the board during the second frame.
Bertoy delivered the first hit of the game with two outs in the bottom of the second inning but Stanford was unable to keep the rally going and generate runs.
Stanford ran into trouble in the top of the third inning when Arizona State rallied for seven runs on six hits, including a three-run home run by Jennifer Soria to center field.
The Sun Devils added one run in the fourth inning and exploded for 10 runs in the fifth inning to take a commanding 20-0 lead.
Lombardo singled to start the bottom half of the fifth but Stanford was unable to keep the momentum going and was unable to avoid the run-rule decision.
“There were some good moments but a lot that we need to work on from this game,” said Hanson. “We can play a lot better ball than we played today and we’ll be ready to show that tomorrow.”
The Cardinal will look to even the series Saturday at 5:30 p.m. (PT).