Arizona freshman pitcher Aissa Silva saved the best performance of her still-early collegiate career for the Wildcatsβ most hated rivals. Silva threw 5 2/3 innings of two-hit ball as No. 17 Arizona again blew out No. 22 ASU, this time 11-0 Saturday evening.
Arizona has started Pac-12 play 2-0 after Fridayβs 9-0 win over the same Sun Devils at Farrington Stadium on ASUβs Tempe campus.
Silva allowed just one hit through the first five innings Saturday. In the bottom of the fifth, Arizona turned a 6-0 lead into 11-0 thanks to a five-run top of the sixth. In that half inning Allie Skaggs hit a grand slam after an RBI single by Olivia DiNardo started the inning.
In the bottom of the sixth, ASU loaded the bases on Silva. But junior college superstar-turned-UA-transfer Brianna Hardy, a Buena (Sierra Vista) alumna before leading Phoenix College to back-to-back NJCAA Division II national titles, came in to shut door and preserve the shutout.
Jasmine Perezchica was 2-for-3 for the Wildcats in the leadoff spot, scoring three times and knocking in two.
Carlie Scupin hit a first-inning home run the start the scoring, finishing 2-for-3 with 3 RBIs. Dakota Kennedy was 2-for-3.
A night after the Wildcats scored one run in each of the first five innings, Arizona jumped out faster in the second of the three-game set. The Wildcats had two in the first and three in the second, adding one more in the fourth inning and then the big five-run sixth inning. By surpassing 10 runs in the top of the sixth, Silva and Hardy were able to end the game by shutting down ASU in the bottom half, giving the UA the run-rule victory.
Arizona and ASU conclude their three-game, Pac-12-opening series Sunday in Tempe at 2 p.m. The game is televised nationally on Pac-12 Network.
