ASU Softball: Sun Devils shut out #3 Oregon to avoid sweep

No. 6 ASU softball avoided the sweep of No. 3 Oregon Sunday as G Juarez threw a three-hit shutout and Jade Gortarez finished a single shy of the cycle.

It was a gut-check game for No. 6 Arizona State Sunday.

The Sun Devils dropped the first two games of the series against No. 3 Oregon making it their first multi-game losing streak and series loss of the season.

In the first two games of the series, ASU mustered only one run as Oregon starters Megan Kleist and Miranda Elish pitched magnificently for the Ducks allowing just seven hits and striking out 22 Sun Devils.

On Sunday, it was a different story as Arizona State scored off three Ducks pitchers, including Kleist and Elish, to propel to a 4-0 win.

“We played our game. I thought G [Juarez] threw lights out,” head coach Trisha Ford said. “It’s a tough game. The’ve seen her now a couple of times and we made some big hits when we needed to.”

Kleist got the start for Oregon after throwing a shutout Friday night. In the series opener, she experienced traffic on the base paths in the first inning, but got out of the jam stranding two Sun Devils and cruising for the rest of the night.

Arizona State scored in the opening frame on a two-out RBI single from first baseman Danielle Gibson scoring shortstop Jade Gortarez, who doubled with one out.

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Oregon pulled Kleist after two innings of work allowing one earned run on two hits and four strikeouts for reliever Maggie Balint, who made her 14th appearance of the season.

Gortarez doubled the Sun Devil lead to two with a solo home run off Balint in the third inning for her seventh homer of the season.

The Ducks made a pitching change in the fourth inning with Miranda Elish coming in to pitch. Elish was coming off a 12-strikeout complete game Saturday night.

ASU got their third run of the game with pinch hitter Kwyn Cooper getting plucked by Elish scoring pinch runner Ashley Moss with the bases loaded.

Elish would go on to allow an RBI single in the fifth inning to center fielder Morgan Howe scoring Gortarez after she tripled.

Gortarez finished the afternoon 3-for-3 with a double, triple, home run and two runs scored.

“I came in earlier today, watched film, went over all of the pitches of my at-bats and just talked about my adjustments with the coaches. I just felt good today,” Gortarez said.

That was all the offense in the game as G Juarez bounced back after a frustrating start Friday night.

Juarez allowed one hit in the second, sixth and seventh innings with Oregon not having a runner reach scoring position until the seventh inning when a single and a hit by pitch put two runners on.

The sophomore standout got a popout and a groundout to end the game in which she allowed three hits and struck out seven Ducks throwing just 87 pitches.

Juarez improved her record to 18-2 and now has 17 complete games and 10 shutouts. She discussed what the shutout meant to her

“It’s amazing because one through nine, they can score and hit,” Juarez said. “It’s a confidence booster for sure because they’re No. 3 and they proved they can hit them out so I mean it’s huge.

Ford talked about how Sunday’s win boosted the team’s confidence.

“I think it was huge. I think it showed a lot of fight and our insides. We’re not going down without punching back,” Ford said. “I was really pleased. Friday didn’t go our way, Saturday didn’t go our way and we never gave up.

Ford discussed the importance of winning Sunday’s series finale with rivalry week next weekend when the Sun Devils host 11th-ranked Arizona.

“This weekend we hit a little bit of a bump, but I was pleased with how today went. Now we’ve entered into rivalry week. If you can’t get up for that, I don’t know,” Ford said. “Arizona is a great team. They are swinging the bats well and so we are going to have to prepare. It’s going to be a tough series, but an exciting series.”

Next: ASU Softball: Sun Devils demolished by Ducks; drop series

The Sun Devils improve their record to 34-7 and 8-4 in Pac-12 play with the regular season winding down. The Territorial Cup series begins Friday at 5 p.m. PT.

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

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