Two Steppin’ into Supers: No. 19/19 Softball slides into the Austin Super Regional

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The No. 19/19 Sun Devil Softball program popped the bubble of excitement inside Davis Diamond prior to Sunday afternoon’s NCAA Bryan-College Station Regional championship game as Arizona State did not need the ‘if necessary’ game after knocking out the No. 15 overall seed for the NCAA Tournament Texas A&M Aggies, 9-1, to advance to next weekend’s NCAA Super Regional round.

Rolling with ground ball specialist Meika Lauppe to begin Sunday’s contest, the junior right-hander set the tone by retiring the top of Texas A&M’s lineup in order, before capping the top of the first with a swinging strikeout by Mya Perez.

Tanya Windle took the momentum from Lauppe into the bottom of the first as the senior designated player singled the third pitch of her first-inning plate appearance into centerfield. Two batters later, Arizona State was already in the run column when Samantha Swan, a Georgetown, Texas native, singled a 2-2 pitch back into center field to bring home Windle from third. The one-run lead was extended two batters later when Katie Chester was credited with a sacrifice fly as Kaylee Pond, who squeezed in a double between Windle and Swan’s singles, scored from third.

Despite the Aggies (38-19) stringing together three consecutive two-out singles to cut their deficit to one during the top of the second, the Sun Devils answered right back with a three-run, four-hit bottom of the second with Swan delivering another run-scoring hit, this time a one-out double to score Tiare Ho-Ching from second.

Looking to capitalize on three consecutive left-handed Aggie batters to begin the third, left-handed pitcher Aissa Silva was brought in from the bullpen. However, after back-to-back walks to begin the frame and momentum beginning to tilt, the Big 12 Softball Tournament Most Valuable Player Kenzie Brown took over in the pitching circle.

Brown (17-6) immediately struck out Perez on four pitches, before retiring Micaela Wark, who hit a two-run home run off Brown during Saturday’s contest, and Ariel Kowalewski, who hit a grand slam during Texas A&M’s Friday afternoon game against UConn, to strand the pair of Aggie base runners.

Brown and Kate Munnerlyn traded scoreless third and fourth innings as Arizona State took a 5-1 lead into the bottom of the fifth.

It took the Sun Devils just 12 pitches from two different Texas A&M pitchers to seal the outcome:

Chester reached first on a throwing error to begin the inning.

Yazzy Avila singled on the first pitch of her at bat.

Yannixa Acuña pushed a 2-2 pitch through the left side of the diamond for a single.

With the bases loaded and no outs, Texas A&M opted to bring in its third different pitcher of the game, Sydney Lessentine.

After watching the first two pitches go outside of the strike zone, first-year Sun Devil and Mesai, Ariz., native Brooklyn Ulrich turned on the third pitch and sent it over the center field fence for her ninth home run on the season and bring an end to the NCAA Bryan-College Station Regional.

GAME NOTES

• Kaylee Pond’s double during the first inning marked the 100th double of the season for the Sun Devils, the first time an Arizona State team has reached the 100-double plateau in a season since hitting a single-season program record 107 throughout the 2008 campaign.
• Arizona State’s Meika Lauppe and Kenzie Brown combined to strikeout Texas A&M’s Mya Perez twice during the game’s first three innings, snapping a streak of 95 consecutive games played without striking out multiple times in a single game.
  • It’s the first time Perez has struck out multiple times in a game since March 1, 2025, when Texas Tech’s NiJaree Canady did so twice.
• Brooklyn Ulrich’s game-ending grand slam was the first game-ending home run for Arizona State to mercy rule an opponent since Feb. 7, 2026, when Samantha Swan hit a game-ending, two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth to lift the Sun Devils to an 8-0 win over Northwestern in Tempe.
• With the win, Arizona State is now 7-0 all-time against Texas A&M during the NCAA Tournament.
  • In fact, the Sun Devils are now 17-1 against the Aggies over their last 18 matchups dating back to a neutral site game in San Jose Calif., on March 18, 1989.
• By advancing out of the Bryan-College Station Regional, Arizona State becomes the 13th consecutive Big 12 Softball Tournament champion to reach a NCAA Super Regional.
  • Every Big 12 Softball Tournament champion – when the tournament has either been held (the league did ot hold a tournament from 2011 to 2016 or 2020; or the regular season champion with the tournament was canceled (Oklahoma, 2019) – has advanced to a NCAA Super Regional since 2007.
• Sunday’s result also marked the first road NCAA Regional win for Arizona State since 2010, when the Sun Devils swept through the Amherst Regional hosted by UMass.

UP NEXT

Arizona State (44-16) will now travel to Austin, Texas to play No. 6/3 Texas (45-10) in a three-game NCAA Super Regional series that is slated to begin at 6 p.m. MST on Friday, May 22.

AUSTIN SUPER REGIONAL SCHEDULE

• Friday, May 22 | 6 p.m. MST | ESPN2
• Saturday, May 23 | 4 p.m. MST | ESPN
• Sunday, May 24 | TBD | TBD

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