ASU prevails against Southern Utah

 by Steven Falkenhagen
 published on Tuesday, February 19, 2008

The ASU softball team extended its winning streak to eight games on Monday at Farrington Stadium.

The Sun Devils (11-1), ranked No. 4 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Poll, never trailed in a 9-3 victory over Southern Utah.

After ASU sophomore pitcher Megan Elliott (4-0) shut out the Thunderbirds in the top of the first inning, the Sun Devils took the lead in the bottom half of the inning on a one-out two RBI double off the bat of freshman third baseman Krista Donnenwirth.

Donnenwirth advanced to third base on the throw and scored when senior catcher Kristen Miller grounded out to second base.

Sun Devil center fielder Kaitlin Cochran reached base in all four of her at bats, including hitting a three-run home run in her final at bat in the sixth inning.

Cochran, who said she was looking for a good pitch to hit early in her at bat, knocked one out over the right field wall off a first pitch swing.

"[Southern Utah sophomore pitcher Kristina Brooks] had occasionally been going inside to me, and it was normally early in the count," Cochran said. "She has some 'tells' on her pitches, so I picked up on that, and I expected the pitch to be inside."

Cochran's bat and glove play is one reason why ASU has fared well to start off the season.

"We're doing great," Cochran said. "We're coming out there and we're hacking, and we're executing our plan — offensively and defensively — so I'm really excited about this year so far."

Elliott had another quality start on the mound for ASU, pitching a complete game.

She scattered six hits over seven innings while striking out seven batters.

Elliott currently has a 1.42 ERA through 24.2 innings pitched on the season.

Southern Utah did not post a score until the top of the fifth inning. With one out, junior left fielder Tish Clapham reached first base on a lightly hit looping ball that landed between ASU senior shortstop Rhiannon Baca and Donnenwirth. Neither called for the ball that landed on the dirt, and an error was tagged onto Donnenwirth.

A triple by sophomore right fielder Norian James would later drive home Clapham as an unearned run.

Elliott did not allow an earned run until the top of the sixth inning when junior pinch hitter Natalie McBurney drove an 0-1 pitch over the left-center field fence for two runs.

"I threw a drop ball right down the middle of the plate," Elliott said. "I missed [the] location. It happens. It was my fault."

ASU coach Clint Myers said the team played well, but added that it failed to convert on a couple of opportunities to put the game away.

Most notably, ASU had the bases loaded with one out in the fourth inning and failed to score any runs.

"Are we a great team yet? No," Myers said. "Do we have the makings of a great team? Yes. We've got to learn to put people away.

"We have not been able to do that for three years."

ASU looks to extend its winning streak this weekend at the Littlewood Classic — a three-day tournament in which the Sun Devils will play host to Buffalo, Illinois State, Iowa, Radford and Miami (Ohio).

Elliott and senior Katie Burkhart will pitch for ASU on Friday.

Reach the reporter at: steven.falkenhagen@asu.edu.