“We have three pitchers right now and we want to get in and out of the game as quick as possible and let our offense work,” ASU sophomore second baseman Tiare Ho-Ching said. “It’s fun to just end the night early and see where the weekend takes us.”

The No. 23 Sun Devils (14-3) defeated UC Riverside (1-9) by a final score of 9-1 in five innings on Thursday, Feb. 26 at Farrington Stadium. The contest ended early, as ASU managed to build an eight-run lead through five innings to force a mercy rule ending. 

Ho-Ching knocked in the game-winning run in the bottom of the fifth inning.

“I want to be the one to come up big in the big moment,” Ho-Ching said. “But at the end of the day, I know that if I don’t get the job done, Tanya’s going to get it done for me.”

The Sun Devils started hot, scoring five in the first two innings. Senior left fielder Tanya Windle, batting in the lead-off position, hit her fifth home run of the season in the bottom of the second, forcing the Highlanders to make an early pitching change.

In total, ASU recorded seven hits and four walks in the five innings of play. Senior shortstop Brooklyn Ulrich had high praise for Windle and the rest of the Sun Devils lineup.

“We have such a strong lineup, one through nine,” Ulrich said. “No pitcher will ever get a break against us. We just keep throwing punches.”

Freshman pitcher Mary Peyton Hodge joined the praise.

“It gives me more confidence,” Hodge said. “If I do give up a run, I know that they’ll fight back and put up more runs on the board. We’ve been working to back up our pitchers and they always have our backs on the field too.”

ASU senior pitcher Aissa Silva kept UC Riverside from shrinking the Sun Devils’ lead, striking out four batters in her two innings of work. Hodge, who took over in the third inning, looks up to Silva in her development as a player moving forward.

“She’s my biggest role model,” Hodge said. “She’s another lefty so I always watch her. My changeup was not good tonight, but she came to the bullpen and she helps and makes me believe that I can improve.”

The Highlanders scored their lone run in the top of the fourth inning, but ASU closed out the game in the bottom of the fifth with a four-run frame. Sun Devils sophomore right fielder Ashleigh Mejia cranked her third home run of the season before Ulrich and Ho-Ching both hit RBI doubles to reach the mercy rule threshold in the fifth.

ASU plays six games over the course of the weekend in the ASU/GCU Invitational. Ulrich said the team needs to stay calm and have fun to keep its momentum throughout the weekend.

“We have some really good chemistry as a team,” Ulrich said. “We just have to tackle it one day at a time and we just have to have a lot of fun out there together.”