TEMPE, Ariz. -- The Arizona State softball team won the Tempe Regional final Sunday, as most expected it would, but not without first facing elimination and a little adversity not seen on its postseason run a year ago.
Splitting a pair of games against Syracuse on Sunday, the third-seeded Sun Devils (49-8) won the right to host a Super Regional next weekend against No. 14 Louisiana-Lafayette. ASU lost the first game 1-0 but won the second 4-0.
ASU coach Clint Myers was happy with the result, which also included wins over LIU-Brooklyn on Friday and Syracuse on Saturday, but a few concerns linger as ASU vies for a second straight trip to the Women's College World Series. Last season, ASU last season didn't lose a single game en route to the program's second national championship, never playing an elimination game.
"We didn't stay with the plan as well as we could have," Myers said.
That plan was altered by Syracuse pitcher Jenna Caira and her devastating changeup. After seeing Caira on Saturday, ASU hitters anticipated plenty of changeups. The problem, senior first baseman Annie Lockwood said, was Caira's ability to locate the pitch, keeping hitters guessing.
As a result, ASU hitters were less aggressive than usual in the first game, often getting behind in counts right away. ASU finished with just four hits and was shut out at home for just the second time this season, the first since March 11.
"We need to be more aggressive," Lockwood said. "We need to be more aggressive to good pitches we know we can hit instead of swinging because we think we should or not swinging because we don't think it's a strike (when) it's going to be called a strike."
ASU also stranded seven base runners, four of which were in scoring position, another thing Myers wants to see less of.
"Any time you leave (runners) on it's always a concern," Myers said. "If we get them on, we want to score them."
The Sun Devils cut that number down to four in the second game. They also got aggressive early, leading to a three-run first inning sparked by Lockwood's two-run double. Lockwood suffered a cut on her left leg in the fourth inning, though she remained in the game. She said afterward it would require stitches, so her status could be of some concern going forward.
ASU sophomore pitcher Dallas Escobedo provided the day's best effort, throwing two complete games and allowing seven total hits, including just two in the first game despite the loss. The home run she allowed in the first game proved the difference, but she kept Syracuse off the board after that, getting out of a couple major jams in the second game.
"I wasn't ready for our season to end," Escobedo said. "That was my approach, so I stepped it up."
Added Myers: "I thought the pitching was outstanding all weekend, so we don't want to change anything there. But we have to have timely hitting and we have to be able to execute at certain times."
The bout of passive hitting, stranded runners and slow adjustments leaves the Sun Devils with a few things to work on ahead of next weekend's best-of-three series.
Also lingering is ASU's last meeting with Louisiana-Lafayette, a 9-2 tournament loss on the road in March. At the Judi Garman Classic in Fullerton, Calif., ULL (52-4) handed ASU just its third loss of the season, tagging Escobedo for five runs in four innings. Ragin' Cajuns pitcher Jordan Wallace, who is now 26-1 with a 2.10 ERA, held ASU to five hits.
The Sun Devils are already thinking back to that game and what they can do differently this time around.
"We talked about what we didn't do well (Sunday) and said, 'We're putting this behind us,' because we have a great ULL team coming in soon," Lockwood said. "Clearly we need to figure some stuff out, because last time we played them it didn't go so well for us.
"I think by the time Friday night rolls around, we'll be a different team, and we'll be ready to go."
