(Photo: Alli Cline/WCSN)
At first glance, the no. 16 Sun Devils’ 6-3 victory over the Rebels from Ole Miss seems open and shut. As simple as fair or foul, but not quite.
Arizona State gathered their third win of the young season with the long ball ruling the scoring for the evening. Bethany Kemp hit her third home run in as many games in the third inning. A three-run shot to center field to score the first runs of the game.
“I knew there were runners in scoring position so I was just looking for a good pitch that I could drive out of the infield and score a run. Thankfully it went out and we got three,” recalled senior first baseman Bethany Kemp.
The Sun Devils’ offense would run stagnant, failing to take advantage of six walks from Ole Miss starting pitcher Madi Osias. Meanwhile, freshman hurler Breanna Macha only allowed two hits through five innings while striking out three.
Macha earned praise from head coach Craig Nicholson saying “for the first five innings I thought she was absolutely outstanding.”
The top of the sixth inning began with more of the same. Macha struck out the Rebels’ leadoff batter Haley Culley looking, forced a line-out from Allison Brown, and then faced center fielder Miranda Strother.
To that point in the sixth, the sophomore Strother had not been retired. She hit three foul balls with a 1-2 count and eventually blooped a single to shallow left-center field. The ball was booted by substitute left fielder Breona Peralta and allowed Strother to reach 2nd base.
The next batter was starting pitcher Madi Osias and she tried to help her own cause with a deep shot down the right field line that was slicing on its descent. The ball fell beyond the fence but about a yard right of the foul pole, apparently a foul ball. After a moment of confusion, home plate umpire Scott Tomlinson twirled his right finger in the air signaling home run.
Elation followed in the first base dugout and bleachers yelling “Hotty Toddy” for the Rebels. As for the maroon and gold watching from the third base side were outraged on the simplicity of the call.
“Well I thought the ball was foul. While the angle I had was not great, a lot of people in the stands thought it was foul too,” Nicholson said afterwards, serving as an umpire from his third base coach’s box.
Senior catcher Amber Freeman chimed in “I definitely thought it was foul. I saw it cross in front of the foul pole and threw my hands up immediately.”
Replays showed the ball clearly foul and after a tough argument to no avail, the home run for Osias stood and it was suddenly a one-run game, 3-2. In the bottom of the 6th, the bats would come alive in retaliation for the Sun Devils.
Sophomore Mandi Grebe led off the inning hitting an infield single that ricocheted off of Osias’s left ankle, but she would remain in the game. Nikki Girard would pop out on the brim of the outfield grass on the left side, Jennifer Soria would walk on four pitches and then Sierra Rodriguez would be hit by the first pitch in her at-bat.
Ole Miss head coach Mike Smith would opt for the bullpen and sophomore righty Emily Gaitan to end the threat. She had Elizabeth Caporuscio behind 0-2 in the count, but the left fielder would rip a screaming line drive up the middle for a single. Then the center fielder Strother misplayed the ball and was charged with an error, committing another error on her return throw to the infield. The bases were cleared, Caporuscio stood on 3rd base, and the Sun Devils added their own insurance 6-2.
In the top of the 7th, Alex Schneider led off with a home run off of Macha, who admitted she needed to rethink her game plan at that point in the game. “Just go at them that’s my mentality every time to attack. I think I did that too much so kind of left the ball around a little.”
After an error and a double, the Rebels brought Allison Brown as the tying run to the plate, but she would fly out to left field and close the door on a comeback.
“She came out and gave us what we needed and got the win,” Nicholson said of Macha’s performance.
Next the Sun Devils will host the Indiana Hoosiers on Saturday in the third day of the Kajikawa Classic, with first pitch at 7 p.m.
