PALM SPRINGS, Calif. -- Third-ranked Washington (11-1) split their first two games of the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic on Thursday. The Huskies (11-1) opened with an 11-0, five-inning win against Maryland (1-11) before falling to No. 23 LSU (10-4) by a final score of 6-3.
The Huskies wasted no time in getting a run on the board against the Terrapins, as the first four runners reached base, and three of them scored to give starter Bryana Walker a 3-0 lead.
Walker was making her eighth start of the season, and the native of nearby La Quinta, Calif. threw 4.0 shutout innings with eight strikeouts to move to 7-0.
The Huskies added a run in the second inning, four in the third, and three in the fourth, highlighted by a two-run double from Whitney Jones in the third. The Huskies had three players with multi-hit efforts, led by Jennie McNeill, who went 3-for-3, including an RBI-single in the third.
The Huskies 11-0 victory was their sixth run-rule shortened victory in their first 11 games.
In the second game of the day, the Tigers three home runs proved too much for Washington, as LSU handed the Huskies their first loss of the season.
Kaitlin Inglesby made the start in the circle, and allowed all six runs (five earned) over 7.0 innings to fall to 3-1 on the season.
The Tigers took a 3-0 lead in the top of the third, but the Huskies came right back to make it 3-2 in the bottom of the inning. Kelli Suguro knocked a one-out double, and she scored on a single from the next batter, Victoria Hayward. Inglesby drove home Hayward on a sacrifice fly. Hayward finished 3-for-4, with one run scored and one RBI vs. LSU and 4-for-6 on the day.
The Tigers added two runs in the 4th inning and one in the 5th inning, all on solo home runs. The Huskies tried to rally in the bottom of the 7th, as Hooch Fagaly scored on a well-hit ball from Dani Braun that went for an error on the left fielder. That made the score 6-3 in favor of LSU, but that’s where it would stay.
No. 4 Arizona State 8, Drake 0
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Fourth-ranked Arizona State jumped out to an early 3-0 lead against Drake on Thursday night at Farrington Stadium and never looked back, scoring an 8-0 victory against the Bulldogs in five innings.
Elizabeth Caporuscio hit a bases clearing double in the bottom of the first inning, proving to be more than enough insurance for pitcher Dallas Escobedo, and the Sun Devils improved to 12-0 on the season.
Escobedo starred once again and improved her record to 6-0 on the young season. She allowed only one hit while striking out 10, including the first six batters of the game. The lone hit she allowed came on a single in the third inning, but the runner never made her way into scoring position.
For the senior pitcher, it was her sixth complete game in as many starts and her fourth one-hitter in those games. Escobedo has given up just eight hits this season while posting 65 strikeouts.
ASU scored three runs in each of the first and second innings. Amber Freeman drove in Bailey Wigness and Alix Johnson in the bottom of the second on a grounder through the left side, and Haley Steele followed that up by driving in Freeman with a double to left-center to improve the score to 6-0.
Freeman also added a solo home run to deep center field in the bottom of the fifth inning, her second of the season, as she finished tied for the game-high with Caporuscio with three RBIs.
Both Freeman and Caporuscio finished the game 3-for-3 with a total of six RBI between them and four runs scored.
Jennifer Soria, serving as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the fifth, logged her first RBI of the season on a double to center field to score Caporuscio and log ASU’s fifth run-rule victory of the season.
