TEMPE – Sun Devil Softball fell behind in the top of the first before putting eight runs on the board in the bottom of the inning to set up a 10-3 win over Portland State on Saturday evening at Farrington Stadium.
Portland State took advantage of two ASU errors in that first inning to build its early advantage. Meika Lauppe settled in with a strikeout, and she then assisted the defense, concluding the frame by fielding a line drive hit back to her.
Kelsey Hall delivered the first blow for the ASU offense by way of a home run to right center field. Her two-run shot scored Tiare Ho-Ching, who led off by reaching on a hit by pitch.
That start was the beginning of eight straight batters reaching for the Sun Devils. In addition to Tanya Windle, Samantha Swan, and AJ Murphy driving in runs, Takyla Davis and Ho-Ching added RBI groundouts during the eight-run outburst.
Following the chaotic first inning, neither team generated many scoring threats until Lillian Holtje stepped up in the ASU fourth. She knocked a solo shot down the leftfield line to extend the lead. Ho-Ching singled home Windle in the fifth for the final run of the game.
ASU pitchers held Portland State to just one hit over the final six innings. Julianne Tipton entered the game following the two-inning stint from Lauppe, who recorded two strikeouts and allowed three runs (one earned). Tipton put in one quick inning of work, recording one strikeout and allowing just one hit.
Kenzie Brown followed up with a commanding outing in the circle, pitching a scoreless four innings without allowing a hit and striking out five. By recording a win, Brown extended her record to 3-1 on the season.
Holtje notched her first multi-hit performance, which ended with three hits on the evening. Hall and Murphy also had two hits as part of the 10 total hits from the team.
Notable
Head Coach Megan Bartlett
On how she's seen the confidence grow in her pitching circle:
"Meika and Kenzie are doing a beautiful job right now, and Julianne and Cambree are very, very talented and have the luxury of having some veterans on the mound. We just need to continue to make sure they believe in their stuff and are throwing pitches with conviction. Once they do that, I think you're really going to see something special out of the young ones."
On the Lillian Holtje's performance:
"The advantage that Lilly has is that she is so strong. That kid spent so much time in the weight room and is just one of those kids who loves being a ball player. To just watch her start to manifest some big time success out of a really important spot in the lineup makes me super happy for her and happy for the club."
Senior Pitcher Kenzie Brown
On the mentality the team has taken on this season and the role she has in it:
"I feel like we all know that we're an underdog team, and we have kind of put a chip on our shoulder, so it's been good to go out there and play to the best of our ability and just play freely as well."
Freshman First baseman Lillian Holtje
On if they had a specific plan in place prior to the game that gave them success early:
"We want to come in strong and respect every opponent we have. As a young team, we're getting used to picking that up together. We kind of think of it as like a switch. So the switch was just on all game today."
Up Next
The Sun Devil Classic will wrap up its weekend events on Sunday with two games. ASU will take on New Mexico State at 11:30 a.m., following the game between Portland State and California Baptist at 9 a.m.
Portland State took advantage of two ASU errors in that first inning to build its early advantage. Meika Lauppe settled in with a strikeout, and she then assisted the defense, concluding the frame by fielding a line drive hit back to her.
Kelsey Hall delivered the first blow for the ASU offense by way of a home run to right center field. Her two-run shot scored Tiare Ho-Ching, who led off by reaching on a hit by pitch.
That start was the beginning of eight straight batters reaching for the Sun Devils. In addition to Tanya Windle, Samantha Swan, and AJ Murphy driving in runs, Takyla Davis and Ho-Ching added RBI groundouts during the eight-run outburst.
Following the chaotic first inning, neither team generated many scoring threats until Lillian Holtje stepped up in the ASU fourth. She knocked a solo shot down the leftfield line to extend the lead. Ho-Ching singled home Windle in the fifth for the final run of the game.
ASU pitchers held Portland State to just one hit over the final six innings. Julianne Tipton entered the game following the two-inning stint from Lauppe, who recorded two strikeouts and allowed three runs (one earned). Tipton put in one quick inning of work, recording one strikeout and allowing just one hit.
Kenzie Brown followed up with a commanding outing in the circle, pitching a scoreless four innings without allowing a hit and striking out five. By recording a win, Brown extended her record to 3-1 on the season.
Holtje notched her first multi-hit performance, which ended with three hits on the evening. Hall and Murphy also had two hits as part of the 10 total hits from the team.
Notable
- The eight runs in the first inning are the second most scored in an inning this season.
- The home run from Kelsey Hall marked her second straight game with a homer, and it was her third of the season. Additionally, it marks her third career home run hit against Portland State (two from her time at Boise in 2023).
- Lillian Holtje recorded two singles and a home run to post her first-ever multi-hit game, going 3-4 on the night.
- Holtje is the third different Sun Devil to record a three-hit game this season.
- Tanya Windle picked up a fifth-inning single to extend her hitting streak to five games. She now has a hit in 12 of the 14 games this season.
- Kenzie Brown finished with five strikeouts, and she now has five-plus strikeouts in five of her eight appearances.
- This was the fourth appearance from Brown in which she went at least three innings and didn't allow a run.
Head Coach Megan Bartlett
On how she's seen the confidence grow in her pitching circle:
"Meika and Kenzie are doing a beautiful job right now, and Julianne and Cambree are very, very talented and have the luxury of having some veterans on the mound. We just need to continue to make sure they believe in their stuff and are throwing pitches with conviction. Once they do that, I think you're really going to see something special out of the young ones."
On the Lillian Holtje's performance:
"The advantage that Lilly has is that she is so strong. That kid spent so much time in the weight room and is just one of those kids who loves being a ball player. To just watch her start to manifest some big time success out of a really important spot in the lineup makes me super happy for her and happy for the club."
Senior Pitcher Kenzie Brown
On the mentality the team has taken on this season and the role she has in it:
"I feel like we all know that we're an underdog team, and we have kind of put a chip on our shoulder, so it's been good to go out there and play to the best of our ability and just play freely as well."
Freshman First baseman Lillian Holtje
On if they had a specific plan in place prior to the game that gave them success early:
"We want to come in strong and respect every opponent we have. As a young team, we're getting used to picking that up together. We kind of think of it as like a switch. So the switch was just on all game today."
Up Next
The Sun Devil Classic will wrap up its weekend events on Sunday with two games. ASU will take on New Mexico State at 11:30 a.m., following the game between Portland State and California Baptist at 9 a.m.