ASU Softball: Errors, home runs carry Oregon to 5-0 win in opener

ASU softball, in front of packed crowd at Farrington Stadium, dropped the series opener vs. No. 3 Oregon 5-0 as errors and home runs were the difference.

On an gusty Friday night in Tempe, No. 6 Arizona State lost to No. 3 Oregon 5-0 in the opener of the highly-anticipated three-game series.

The first four innings were about what everyone expected, a pitcher’s duel, with ASU’s G Juarez and Oregon’s Megan Kleist in the circle.

Oregon broke the scoreless deadlock in the fifth inning. After a double from Ducks shortstop DJ Sanders, left fielder Alexis Mack dropped a bunt with two outs with first baseman Danielle Gibson fielding it.

Gibson’s throw to second baseman Marisa Stankiewicz went off her glove into foul territory allowing Sanders to score from second.

The Ducks made it 2-0 on an RBI single by center fielder Shannon Rhodes.

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In the sixth inning, Oregon doubled their lead to four runs. With gusty wind conditions, a high pop up from catcher Gwen Svekis in right field dropped after a collision between Stankiewicz and Kindra Hackbarth.

Hackbarth was slow to get up but ultimately stayed in the game. Head coach Trisha Ford said it was an upper-body injury and she’ll be sore, but OK.

The first pitch after the lengthy delay was a two-run home run to designated player/third baseman Mary Iakopo for her fifth home run of the season.

A solo home run from the leadoff hitter Jenna Lilley made it 5-0 Oregon in the seventh with the Ducks finishing the game with that score.

Juarez threw a complete game allowing five runs (two earned) on six hits to go with two walks and five strikeouts. Kleist threw a complete game shutout allowing three hits (one hit allowed after the first inning) and 10 strikeouts.

Juarez dropped her record to 17-2 on the season with Kleist improving to 13-4.

“I think she [Juarez] made some mistakes and I think she’ll be the first to realize it. She still threw well. We’ve got to put up some runs for her,” Ford said. “I thought she made some big pitches when we needed her to make some big pitches and she’s going to learn a lot. I’m excited to see what she looks like on Sunday. I think she’s going to respond well.”

The best chance for Arizona State to score was in the first inning with Kindra Hackbarth leading the game off with a single. Controversy ensued on a grounder by shortstop Jade Gortarez. The umps changed a safe call to an out call causing a heated conversion between Ford and the umpire.

Ford thought she dropped the transfer and that Hackbarth was safe. A two-out single by Gibson put runners on the corners, but Kleist got out of the jam with a strikeout of Stankiewicz.

The home plate umpire’s strike zone was questionable for both sides as the calls were inconsistent much of the night.

“I try to not let it effect me. Obviously, a couple of calls, balls or whatever, like they don’t go my way, but I think that’s why they [Oregon] get lucky a few more times than usual and I think that was the difference in the game,” Juarez said.

Gibson discussed what she took away from this game.

“Fighting and sticking to coach’s plan. We drilled ground balls today because of what Kleist was throwing, and we kind of just left that in the cages,” Gibson said. “We didn’t really take any of it and applied it to our game today. Really just trusting what the coaches are telling us, trusting our own ability and fighting hard than they fight.”

Next: ASU Softball: Sun Devils battle Oregon in top-10 showdown

Arizona State drops to 33-6 (7-3 Pac-12) and will play the second game of their three-game series Saturday night at 6 p.m. PT. The game can be seen on the ASU Live Stream.

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

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