TEMPE, Ariz. – Utah pitchers issued 11 walks and No. 16 Arizona State made them pay, winning the series opener this evening, 13-0.
The top scoring team in the nation pounced on some erratic pitching as the middle of the order combined for 10 RBI against the Ute hurlers. Maddi Hackbarth hit a pair of homers and now has the Pac-12 lead with 13 round-trippers.
ASU started the game with a pair of walks and a single to load the bases. Jade Gortarez cleared them with a double and a pair of fly balls to the outfield brought in another as DeNae Chatman picked up a sac fly.
In the second, the Sun Devils loaded the bases again with two singles and a walk.
BreOnna Castaneda was able to get a force at home but Chatman followed with a two-run single. Yannira Acuna added a RBI single and two more walks added another run to make it 8-0
Morgan Howe, who paces the Pac-12 and is third in the nation with 39 RBI, did not register one, but scored three times. She would come around on Hackbarth's first homer of the night, a three-run homer. Four walks in a row would tag on another run and Hackbarth went deep again in the fourth, a solo shot.
The Utes and Sun Devils play again tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. AT/3:30 p.m. MT on the Pac-12 Networks.
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