Samantha Swan Walk-Off Caps Dominant Night for Sun Devil Softball
TEMPE - On a night when everything clicked for Arizona State Softball, it was Samantha Swan who brought the house down at Club Farrington. With two outs in the bottom of the sixth, the junior from Texas launched a game-ending, two-run homer to seal an emphatic 8-0 run-rule victory over Northwestern - and sent the 1,300-plus fans into a frenzy.
Swan was in the middle of the action from the jump. In the second inning, she battled back from an 0-2 count and laced a single up the middle to score JazMarie Roberts from third. That early RBI gave ASU a 1-0 lead and set the tone for what would turn into a dominant offensive performance.
But while the bats eventually stole the show, this one started with Kenzie Brown doing what she does best - dominating in the circle. The fifth-year senior was perfect through four innings, mowing down Northwestern hitters with precision and poise. She finally allowed a single in the fifth, but by then, the Sun Devils were already building a cushion.
And Katie Chester made sure that cushion got a lot more comfortable.
After Tiare Ho-Ching was hit by a pitch to open the bottom of the fifth, Chester stepped in and didn’t miss. She turned on a 1-0 pitch from Northwestern’s Riley Grudzielanek and sent it 256 feet for a two-run shot, stretching ASU’s lead to 3-0. It was a no-doubt blast - her first multi-hit game since transferring from Missouri - and one that gave Brown even more breathing room.
That breathing room turned into a blowout an inning later.
Following a two-out triple from Northwestern’s Grace Nieto in the top of the sixth - just the Wildcats’ second hit of the game - the Sun Devils answered with a five-run rally of their own. Emily Schepp got it started with an RBI double, and then Swan stepped in for her encore.
With two outs and a runner aboard, she crushed a pitch deep and gone for the walk-off. It was the exclamation point on a night that felt like a statement.
“We kept it a little bit more simple with our approach from the get-go tonight,” said head coach Megan Bartlett. **“Northwestern is a very good team.
They’ll probably finish top three in the Big Ten and be a postseason team. So those were quality arms we faced.
Hitting is a little bit contagious - once you get a couple big hits, you’ll watch the floodgates open.” **
They didn’t just open - they burst wide.
For Swan, the walk-off wasn’t just a personal highlight - it was a team moment.
“I was looking to hit a ball in the grass,” she said with a smile. **“But it felt good.
We took an inning off of Kenzie’s arm, which is really important this early in the season. It felt amazing to get back out there.
We’ve been working hard in the cages, so it was awesome to see that time spent begin to pay off.” **
Game Notes:
- The win marked ASU’s first run-rule victory since a 9-1 win over Yale back in February 2025.
- Kenzie Brown struck out 12 in the complete-game shutout, her second straight home start with double-digit Ks - a streak dating back to April 2025, when she fanned 16 and 13 in back-to-back games against Kansas.
- Chester’s two-hit night was her first multi-hit performance since March 2024, when she went 2-for-2 against LSU while playing for Missouri.
- The shutout was Brown’s first at Farrington Stadium since April 2025, when she blanked Baylor over seven innings.
Up Next:
The Sun Devils (3-1) will look to close out the Kajikawa Classic with another win when they face Memphis (2-1) on Sunday at 12:45 p.m. MST. The Tigers will first take on Northwestern earlier in the day.
If Saturday night was any indication, ASU is finding its rhythm early - and with Swan swinging like that and Brown dealing in the circle, this team might be just getting started.