OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – In what is shaping up to be a memorable season for Sun Devil Softball, another chapter was written Friday night as sixth-seeded Arizona State advanced to its first-ever Big 12 Softball Championship game with an 11-7 win over second seed Oklahoma State in the tournament’s second semifinal matchup.

Despite facing the Big 12’s Pitcher of the Year in Ruby Meylan, the Arizona State bats jumped on the Cowgirl ace early with a six-run, five-hit top of the second that was highlighted by a three-run home run off the bat of Tanya Windle. Windle’s seventh home run of the season marked the first-ever multi-run home run by a Sun Devil in a Big 12 Softball Tournament game.

It ended up being the first of three multi-run home runs for the Sun Devils throughout the 2-hour, 36-minute game as Ashleigh Mejia and Brooklyn Ulrich each hit two-run home runs on the first pitch of their fifth inning plate appearances. The pair of long balls pushed Arizona State’s lead from 6-2 out to 10-2 with a chance to end the game via mercy rule in the bottom of the frame.

Unfortunately for the Arizona State faithful, the Cowgirls kept the game alive with a four-run bottom of the fifth to draw to within four of the Sun Devils.

Emily Schepp got a run back for Arizona State, though, on the second pitch of the sixth inning, when she connected for her 11th home run of the season.

The 11-6 Arizona State advantage stood until Rosie Davis led off the bottom of the seventh with a first-pitch solo home run off Aissa Silva, who scattered just two hits and struck out two in 2.2 innings of relief for Meika Lauppe. The Sun Devil pitching duo did not issue a walk to any of the 33 Oklahoma State batters faced. 

FROM HEAD COACH MEGAN BARTLETT

“Our girls certainly came out swinging tonight. I’m really, really proud of the effort. We certainly want to tip our cap to Oklahoma State, that’s a tremendous ballclub. Ruby Meylan is excellent. She was our vote for Big 12 Pitcher of the Year, so I’m just really, really proud of the girls especially for their effort after we ended up in a little back-and-forth game there. It ended up being a pretty good ball game.”

FROM SENIOR OUTFIELDER TANYA WINDLE

“On my home run … it was a long at bat, I was fouling pitches off left and right. I tip my cap to (Oklahoma State’s) Ruby Meylan. She has a great drop ball that is effective in the zone, and I knew I had to hunt something up in the zone and she left it up for me to hit. That’s what you have to do when you’re facing an All-American pitcher. You have to adjust and make those adjustments in the box as the game moves on.”

FROM SENIOR PITCHER AISSA SILVA

“There at the end, I really just wanted to zone in and do it for my team. Any time you come into a game in relief there’s going to be a little bit of stress, but the stress is usually what makes the competition better. (Oklahoma State) has really good bats, so I just wanted to pound the zone and even if the pitches get hit, I know my defense has my back.”

GAME NOTES

• Arizona State’s 11 runs scored on Friday night were the most scored by the Sun Devils against Oklahoma State in any game throughout the two program’s 23-game series history.
• With her run-scoring double during Arizona State’s six-run second, Samantha Swan became the first Sun Devil with 20-or-more (20) doubles in a single season.
  • Swan broke a three-way tie with Yannira Acuña (2022) and Kaitlin Cochran (2008) for the program’s single-season doubles record.
• Entering Friday night’s semifinal game, Arizona State had not hit a multi-run home run in any game of its Big 12 Softball Tournament history.
  • The Sun Devils hit three multi-run home runs in five offensive innings against Cowgirl pitching on the night.
• With the win, Arizona State has reached 40 wins on the season for the first time since the 2022, when the Sun Devils won 43 games and the Pac-12 Conference.
• By earning the decision in Arizona State’s win on Friday night, Meika Lauppe picked up her 13th win on the season and 25th for her career.
• With the win, Arizona State becomes just the second No. 6 seed to reach the championship game of the Big 12 Softball Tournament, joining Kansas, which defeated fifth seed Oklahoma, 4-2, to win the 2006 Big 12 Championship.
  • The Sun Devils are the lowest-seeded team to make the conference’s postseason tournament championship game Nebraska did so as a 10 seed in 2008.

UP NEXT

Arizona State (40-16) will play for its first-ever Big 12 Conference championship on Saturday, May 9, when the Sun Devils close out the three-day Big 12 Softball Tournament against No. 3/4 Texas Tech in the tournament’s championship game at 9 a.m. MST / 11 p.m. CDT on ESPN.

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