Sun Devils take Super Regional opener against Gamecocks
TEMPE, Ariz. (WOLO) – Giselle Juarez didn’t allow a hit through six innings, while Gamecocks’ pitchers allowed five runs on 11 hits in Arizona State’s 5-2 victory in the opener of the Tempe Super Regional.
Trailing 5-0 entering the top of the seventh, USC broke up the Sun Devils no-hitter on an Alyssa Vanderveer lead-off single. Kennedy Clark then put the garnet and black on the scoreboard with a two-run homer to right field.
But Juarez responded by striking out the side of Jana Johns, Krystan White, and Tiarra Duffy, putting ASU just one win away from a trip to Oklahoma City and the Women’s College World Series. The Arizona St. ace threw a complete game, striking out eight Carolina batters in total.
The Tempe Super’s hosts led 1-0 after the first, but pulled ahead against Gamecocks starter Dixie Raley after Jade Gortarez’s two-run home run in the second.
Raley lasted just 2.1 innings pitched, giving up three runs, all earned, on six hits. Freshman Kelsey Oh pitched 3.2 innings in releif, allowing two runs, one earned, on five hits. Skylar McCarty bunted in a run in the fourth, where Morgan Howe followed with an RBI single to create a five-run cushion for Arizona State.
After winning three-straight elimination games in the Columbia Regional, South Carolina will now need to defeat ASU two consecutive times to win the best of three series and reach their first WCWS since 1997. Game two between the pair of teams will take place at 9 p.m. Eastern Saturday night.
