Sun Devils knock off top-ranked UCLA

Splits weekend contest against Huskies

 by Steven Falkenhagen
 published on Monday, April 14, 2008

Deanna Dent / THE STATE PRESS

PLAY AT THE PLATE: ASU freshman outfielder Lesley Rogers slides into home plate only to be called out during the Sun Devils’ loss against Washington on Sunday at Farrington Field.

Deanna Dent / THE STATE PRESS

SWEET SHADES: A view from behind the backstop at Farrington Field on Sunday shows senior Katie Burkhart unleashing one of her 115 pitches against Washington. The Huskies got the better of Burkhart, leaving her with her third loss of the season.

No team is perfect in the Pac-10, not even the No. 2 ASU softball team.

Every team has seen its fair share of losses, and no team remains without a conference defeat.

ASU (44-3, 8-1 Pac-10) started its weekend off by defeating No. 1 UCLA (36-5, 8-2 Pac-10) 3-0 on Saturday.

But then ASU squandered its unblemished conference record with a two-game split in its weekend series against No. 23 Washington (25-14-1, 4-5 Pac-10) on Saturday and Sunday by margins of 7-2, and 3-0, respectively.

Sunday's loss was ASU's first regular season home loss of the year.

The Sun Devils rode their momentum from Wednesday's landmark victory over UA (29-12, 6-4 Pac-10) in Tucson to their game on Friday against UCLA.

ASU senior pitcher Katie Burkhart (25-3) took the circle against UCLA senior pitcher Anjelica Selden (18-3).

Burkhart pitched a complete game three-hit shutout while striking out nine batters. Her counterpart also went the distance, pitching six innings while giving up three runs on four hits.

For the second time in as many games, the Sun Devils scored in the first inning. Junior center fielder Kaitlin Cochran scored on a two-out single off the bat of freshman third baseman Krista Donnenwirth to bring in the game's first run.

The game would remain at 1-0 in ASU's favor until the fourth inning when ASU freshman designated player Lesley Rogers drove a ball over the right field fence for her first career home run.

The Sun Devils extended the lead to 3-0 in the sixth by another two-out RBI from Donnenwirth. This time Vasquez came through to score the run.

The Bruins' biggest threat came in the seventh inning when senior left fielder Krista Colburn and junior second baseman Amanda Kamekona singled to lead off the frame. But a double play set up by senior second baseman Mindy Cowles and a Burkhart strikeout would squander any chance of a potential late-inning comeback.

Burkhart took the circle yet again on Saturday, this time against Washington freshman pitcher Aleah Macon (14-6). Saturday's game was ASU's first televised game of the season, and the team did not disappoint the fans watching at home.

The Sun Devils came out charging in the first inning again with a six-run leadoff inning. Cochran would homer in the fourth inning to lift the lead to 7-0.

Markedly similar to the UCLA game, the Huskies also threatened to rally in the seventh inning. Down 7-0, UW led off the top of the seventh by getting two runners aboard. The Huskies would push those runners across the plate, but it was too little, too late. Burkhart earned her milestone 25th win with a 7-2 victory.

Sunday's game saw a tiresome Burkhart — pitching her fourth-consecutive start in five days — take the circle. Sophomore pitcher Megan Elliott was scheduled to start, but came down with a bout of dehydration.

UW went back to Macon again to pitch the series finale.

The tables were turned in this contest, as it was the Huskies that got on the board in the first inning. A looper into left field from UW freshman shortstop Morgan Stuart put two runs on the board for the visiting Huskies.

UW would score again in the top of the sixth from a ground ball back to Burkhart with the bases loaded.

It was a rough day at the plate for ASU batters. Although the Sun Devils did get seven hits, they had problems driving in runs, leaving 11 runners on base.

Myers said that Macon pitched "well," but she wasn't the best ASU has seen this year.

"Nineteen-of-21 outs were either pop-ups or strikeouts, and you don't need great defense when you get that," Myers said. "It was just poor execution on our part. We didn't come to play."

The Sun Devils look to get back on track today at Farrington Stadium in a non-conference doubleheader against UNLV (21-25-1, 1-5) starting at 1 p.m. Junior pitcher Amanda Nesbitt will get the call for one game, and Elliott is tentatively scheduled to start the other game.

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