In her first career at-bat, Arizona State’s Tiare Ho-Ching stepped into the box and crushed a double to center field over Mazie MacFarlane’s shoulder to send two runs in. Ho-Ching later slammed the ball over the right field fence in her second at bat, her first career home run to push the Sun Devils’ lead to six before the end of the fourth inning.
Maryland struggled to fend off Ho-Ching and the rest of the Sun Devils’ offense throughout the game, falling to Arizona State in its season opener, 7-1. The Terps allowed runs in each of the first four innings.
Julia Shearer got the start in the circle in the Terps’ season opener. The sophomore appeared in 17 games for the Terps last season, posting a 5.53 ERA.
Maryland (0-1) used three of its five pitchers during the game. Freshman Aubrey Wurst stepped into the circle in the third, while junior Bri Godfrey entered during the fourth. The Terps are expected to use their entire pitching rotation regularly throughout the season after long-time starter Courtney Wyche graduated.
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Arizona State (1-0) leadoff hitter Tanya Windle gave the Sun Devils their ideal start, sending a fastball over the right fence to take an early 1-0 lead — matching her total from the 2024 season. A double play limited further damage, but Arizona State still scored in the following three frames.
The Sun Devils added six hits throughout the next three innings, exploiting gaps in the outfield to move their runners around. A single from Ayden Allan and a walk put two Arizona State runners on base before Ho-Ching doubled to send them home.
Four straight shots to center field in the third inning advanced Yannixa Acuña and Samantha Swan to home plate, which gave the Sun Devils a strong 5-1 lead right after Maryland eventually struck.
The Terps scored their lone run of the game in the top of the third. Junior Madison Runyan sent a routine pop-up to second base that Ho-Ching fumbled, letting Runyan take third, and later scored on a MacFarlane’s ground out to shortstop.
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Maryland managed to put runners on first and third with two outs during the fourth inning, but Arizona State starter Cambree Creager put three straight strikes on Shearer to kill the Terps’ rally.
The offensive struggles worsened when senior Kenzie Brown entered in relief in the fifth inning. She fired five straight strikeouts throughout the 5th and 6th innings.
Godfrey gave the Terps a sense of stability on the mound, retiring six straight batters to get the Terps through to the 7th inning, but their overall offensive woes proved too much to overcome. Brown once again put away three straight Maryland batters in the final frame to seal the result.
Maryland will play its first double header on Friday against Miami (OH) and Cal. Whoever the Terps put on the mound against the Golden Bears is likely to show who could give pitching stability to help a shaky lineup.
