Salt Lake City -- The ninth-ranked Arizona State softball team shutout Utah for their 36th win in 2018, 12-0, Friday at Dumke Family Stadium.
Sophomore G Juarez threw another stellar game from the circle for the Sun Devils en route to her nation leading 11th shutout of the season. Juarez allowed just three hits in the game while tallying eight strikeouts. Following tonight's game, Juarez has now amassed an incredible 240 strikeouts on the season, a mark that ranks 10th-all-time for a single season in ASU softball history.
Juarez has surpassed former Sun Devil greats Dallas Escobedo (2012) and Lucy Casarez (1981) to enter the top-10 and needs just seven strikeouts to surpass Melannie Kyler who currently sits in ninth place with her 246 strikeouts during the 1978 season.
At the plate, Arizona State out-hit the Utes 12-3, with seven different ASU batters recording hits in the outing including four players with multi-hit efforts. Morgan Howe led the way for the Sun Devils with a 3-for-4 outing, closely followed by Kindra Hackbarth and Danielle Gibson who each posted three hits and three RBI in the Sun Devil win.
Following a scoreless first inning by both teams, ASU broke the game open with a four-run second inning, highlighted by a bases-loaded triple from K. Hackbarth that scored Taylor Becerra, Maddie Hackbarth and DeNae Chatman to make it a 4-0 ASU lead heading to the third.
The Sun Devil offense struck again in the top of the fourth. Howe legged out an infield single to score Ashley Moss and make it a 5-0 Sun Devil lead, and Marisa Stankiewicz was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to plate yet another ASU run in the frame.
With a comfortable 6-0 lead already in hand, the Sun Devil offense continued to connect, exploding for another six runs on the top of the fifth. Gibson got things going for the Sun Devil offense, ripping a bases-clearing double that plated three-more runs for Arizona State with two-out in the inning. Howe followed with an RBI single through the middle, followed by a two-RBI double from Chatman that pulled the score to the final, 12-0 Sun Devil win.
The 12 runs from ASU marked their second-highest scoring output of the season, topped only by ASU's 13-runs scored against Georgetown in early March, while the 12 hits in tonight's game stands as the Sun Devil's 15th game with 10 or more hits this season.
ASU is back in action tomorrow for game two of the three-game road series against the Utes. First pitch in game two is scheduled for 1 p.m. PT. Fans can follow all of the action from the 2018 Sun Devil softball season by following @ASUSoftball on Twitter.
Sophomore G Juarez threw another stellar game from the circle for the Sun Devils en route to her nation leading 11th shutout of the season. Juarez allowed just three hits in the game while tallying eight strikeouts. Following tonight's game, Juarez has now amassed an incredible 240 strikeouts on the season, a mark that ranks 10th-all-time for a single season in ASU softball history.
Juarez has surpassed former Sun Devil greats Dallas Escobedo (2012) and Lucy Casarez (1981) to enter the top-10 and needs just seven strikeouts to surpass Melannie Kyler who currently sits in ninth place with her 246 strikeouts during the 1978 season.
At the plate, Arizona State out-hit the Utes 12-3, with seven different ASU batters recording hits in the outing including four players with multi-hit efforts. Morgan Howe led the way for the Sun Devils with a 3-for-4 outing, closely followed by Kindra Hackbarth and Danielle Gibson who each posted three hits and three RBI in the Sun Devil win.
Following a scoreless first inning by both teams, ASU broke the game open with a four-run second inning, highlighted by a bases-loaded triple from K. Hackbarth that scored Taylor Becerra, Maddie Hackbarth and DeNae Chatman to make it a 4-0 ASU lead heading to the third.
The Sun Devil offense struck again in the top of the fourth. Howe legged out an infield single to score Ashley Moss and make it a 5-0 Sun Devil lead, and Marisa Stankiewicz was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to plate yet another ASU run in the frame.
With a comfortable 6-0 lead already in hand, the Sun Devil offense continued to connect, exploding for another six runs on the top of the fifth. Gibson got things going for the Sun Devil offense, ripping a bases-clearing double that plated three-more runs for Arizona State with two-out in the inning. Howe followed with an RBI single through the middle, followed by a two-RBI double from Chatman that pulled the score to the final, 12-0 Sun Devil win.
The 12 runs from ASU marked their second-highest scoring output of the season, topped only by ASU's 13-runs scored against Georgetown in early March, while the 12 hits in tonight's game stands as the Sun Devil's 15th game with 10 or more hits this season.
ASU is back in action tomorrow for game two of the three-game road series against the Utes. First pitch in game two is scheduled for 1 p.m. PT. Fans can follow all of the action from the 2018 Sun Devil softball season by following @ASUSoftball on Twitter.