Lockdown pitching and timely hitting is usually a recipe for success. Arizona softball used both to its advantage to secure a series opening victory over rival Arizona State Friday evening in Tempe.
Miranda Stoddard kept ASU batters at bay, and Sydney Stewart delivered a 3-run homer as Arizona won game one of the series 6-1. The No. 10 Wildcats have now won four straight Big 12 games after dropping two to UCF in the opening conference series.
Stoddard made her second consecutive start, pitching 5.2 innings and giving up one earned run on five hits. Stoddard induced 12 groundouts and struck out one.
Arizona (28-4, 5-2 Big 12) and ASU traded two scoreless innings before the Wildcats broke through in the third. Dakota Kennedy led off the inning with a single but then got caught stealing. Regan Shockey singled and Kaiah Altmeyer reached base on a fielder’s choice to put two on.
Stewart came up to the plate with two outs and drove a first pitch fastball deep over the center field wall to break up the shutout and give the Wildcats a 3-0 lead. It was Stewart’s ninth home run of the season.
Arizona added to the lead on a sac fly by Tayler Biehl that scored Zaedi Tagalog. The Wildcats scored twice more in the sixth on a two-out, two run single by Altmeyer that drove in Kennedy and Biehl.
ASU’s lone run came in the bottom of the sixth on a solo homer by Ashleigh Mejia.
Devyn Netz relieved Stoddard in the sixth and threw 1.1 scoreless innings to record the save.
Arizona and ASU are back in action Saturday at 5 p.m. MST on ESPN+.