ASU Softball: Pitchers look to shine for Sun Devils

With the departure of G Juarez and the graduation of Breanna Macha, No. 12 ASU softball with rely on transfer Cielo Meza to lead a new-look pitching staff.

Arizona State comes in this year as the 12th-ranked team in the country after losing key aspects to the offense and defense on a top-seven team last year. However, the pitchers are looking to boost the softball team back up to the top-10 this year.

Arizona State had two of their four pitchers graduate from last year’s astounding team. The other two have not been listed on the 2019 roster either.

ASU will have one true freshman pitcher, one freshman utility/freshman pitcher, a junior, and a redshirt junior on their list this year. All the players come with achievements and are ready for some big challenges on a powerful team.

Mikayla Santa Cruz – Freshman:

Cruz is a local stand out coming from Tucson as a right-handed pitcher. She was an ace at Canyon Del Oro High School and led her club team, Arizona Suncats, to a first place at the Triple Crown Sports Firework Colorado Tournament.

Scouts have clocked her fastball to be up to 65 mph on the radar gun. Although she may not be a bigger pitcher, she has dedication and character to build up the chemistry between her catcher and her team.

She is also known to come down and fire shots in clutch situations. Overall a great prospect and will be useful at all times for the Sun Devils.

Abby Andersen – Freshman:

Andersen is coming into a role as possibly like a Shohei Ohtani figure. Andersen played outfield as well as pitcher and will do both for the Sun Devils. She led her team to back-to-back D1 state titles in Arizona. She had a batting average of a superstar like .500 with an ERA of 2.32.

Andersen is in a winning mindset after finishing her high school career with a record of 16-4 and one save too. Through 123.2 innings pitched, she has only allowed 113 hits. That’s an average of .917 hits per an inning.

Samantha Mejia – Junior:

Mejia is a transfer from Fresno State and is originally from Bakersfield, California. As a freshman, she went 3-1 with 18 appearances in total.  She also held her opponents to a .331 batting average and recorded seven assists throughout her first year.

Sophomore year she began to dominate. She had a 3-0 record as a reliever and did not allow a single run through her first 18 conference innings pitched. Her opponents batting average dropped to a .244 and carried 60 strikeouts as well.

Lastly, Mejia may be the best at painting the corners between all these girls with a great fastball and curveball causing batters to chase outside or hit the edges of the plate.

Cielo Meza – Redshirt Junior:

Meza is another transfer from California as she is arriving from Long Beach State. As a redshirt freshman, she was named Big West Freshman Pitcher of the Year as well as All-Freshman team in the Big West.

In only 13 appearances, she struck out 56 batters. She was so dominant that she even capped off the season with a no-hitter against UC Riverside.

As a sophomore, the accolades kept building up. She ended with a 22-4 record and was named Pitcher of the Year. She even had 27 strikeouts in two games combined and earned two more no-hitters.

Meza comes in with the most experience, most mature, and most accolades. She also has a great size and power with a few weapons to throw off batters. Overall, she will be most likely the Sun Devils ace.

The Sun Devils may have a young core of pitchers, but they seem pretty well rounded with a powerful pitcher, an ace, a pitcher who can paint the corners, and a utility pitcher as well.

ASU will face off this Friday in a doubleheader against Western Michigan and Missouri.