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ASU Softball: Devils fall short to Tennessee on Opening Day

By Matthew Stolbof

LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 11: Arizona State Sun Devils mascot Sparky the Sun Devil stands on the court during a first-round game of the Pac-12 Basketball Tournament against the USC Trojans at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on March 11, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. USC won 67-64. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 11: Arizona State Sun Devils mascot Sparky the Sun Devil stands on the court during a first-round game of the Pac-12 Basketball Tournament against the USC Trojans at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on March 11, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. USC won 67-64. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /
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ASU softball suffered an Opening Day loss versus No. 11 Tennessee 7-4 as Giselle Juarez struggled to keep the ball in the yard.

Opening night. Always one of the best nights in all of softball. The grass is freshly cut. The sands looks smooth. The hot dogs smell like heaven on earth. It truly means that it’s time to play ball. Unfortunately, Opening Night was spoiled for 19th-ranked Arizona State as they fell to No. 11 Tennessee 7-4 in the Kajikawa Classic.

Despite the defeat, they were many great things that ASU could take away from this game. All four of ASU’s transfers had hits in the game including catcher Maddi Hackbarth who hit a bomb to deep center in her first at-bat as a Sun Devil.

Hackbarth talked about her first game with ASU and said she really saw a difference in “the atmosphere” of the game compared to her time at Fresno State. Despite being a little nervous this afternoon, Hackbarth explained how it was “just another game in a different field.”

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ASU’s pitching started off hot with sophomore Giselle Juarez striking out her first four batters. Things took a quick wrong turn after that.

After giving up her first baserunner on a walk, Juarez gave up a home run to left fielder Scarlet McSwain making it 3-0 Vols.

ASU tied the game up right away thanks to Hackbarth’s homer, but Juarez gave up another dinger once again in the 3rd to Chelsea Seggern.

Her night was over after five innings. Juarez gave up a total of six earned runs on only four hits but struck out seven Vols.

ASU manager Tricia Ford saw this appearance in a positive light and is not worried about her young pitcher at all. “She’s [Juarez] gonna be fine. She had two bad pitches. She’s a sophomore in her first game. I’m not worried at all.”

Despite being down the majority of the game, ASU did have its chance to comeback.

Down 6-3 in the fifth, Arizona State had runners on second and third with one out. With opportunity there, redshirt senior second baseman Marisa Stankiewicz failed to take advantage of it, grounding out to short on a fielders choice where shortstop Meghan Gregg threw out Morgan Howe who was running home.

The game-sealer occurred in the top of the 7th. With ASU senior Breanna Macha on the mound and a runner on first, Stankiewicz overthrew Gortarez and allowed Gregg to score the Vol’s 7th run.

Even though ASU loss, the Sun Devils out-hit Tennessee 10-6. Ford believes if the team continues to hit like that, they should be okay this year.

“I’m excited,” Ford said. “We’re gonna have a lot of good games. That’s a postseason team just like we are, and we’ll figure out a way to beat them.”

Next: ASU Softball: Sun Devils to endure a tough schedule

Arizona State continues things tomorrow as they face Purdue in Farrington Stadium at 2 p.m. MT. Likely starter for the Sun Devils will be senior right-hander Dale Ryndak. Last season, Ryndak was 8-5 with a 2.37 ERA throwing a perfect game in her first start of the year against UTEP in 2017.

All quotes in this article were obtained firsthand by Devils in Detail unless otherwise noted.

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