ASU softball dominates in NCAA opener

By foxsports
Published

Box score

TEMPE, Ariz. --

 Third-seeded Arizona State routed Long Island University-Brooklyn 9-0 in five innings Friday in the opening game of the NCAA tournament's Tempe Regional at Farrington Stadium.

The Sun Devils (47-7) will take on Syracuse (41-14) on Saturday at 1 p.m., while the Blackbirds (25-34) will take on Long Beach State (28-24) in the elimination bracket in the late game.

Haley Steele and Amber Freeman each had a home run to help senior pitcher Hillary Bach earn the win, her 20th victory of the season to go along with just one loss. Cassie Vondrak (12-7) took the loss for LIU-Brooklyn.

Bach allowed just two hits and two walks over five innings of play in front of a crowd of 1,115 in a game that took just under 90 minutes to complete.
 
Freeman got ASU on the board first, hitting a solo shot to dead center off Vondrak in the second inning in her first-ever postseason at-bat. It was Freeman’s 11th homer of the year and put the Sun Devils ahead 1-0.

Alix Johnson kept things rolling in a three-run third inning, leading off with a double to left field and setting up an Elizabeth Caporuscio double two batters later that plated Johnson and Katelyn Boyd, extending ASU's lead to 3-0. Freeman drove the next pitch she saw to right-center field, bringing in Caporuscio and making it 4-0 at the end of three innings.

A Boyd sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fourth drove in Christina Zambrana from second and increased ASU’s lead to 5-0. Talor Haro score on a fielder’s choice later in the inning before Steele padded the lead with the decisive three-run homer to center -- her ninth of the season -- to increase the lead to 9-0.

With the victory, ASU head coach Clint Myers improved to 21-1 at home in the NCAA tournament and 42-9 overall in NCAA postseason play.