April 9, 2001
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Arizona State pitcher/designated player Erica Beach and teammate Kirsten Voak have been named the Pac-10 Player and Pitcher of The Week, respectively for the week of April 2-8, the Pacific-10 Conference announced today.
Beach and Voak were two main ingredients that helped the ninth-ranked Arizona State softball team sweep the UCLA/Washington road swing for the first time in school history. It was also the first time since 1993 that ASU swept 14th-ranked Washington on the road. In the three games combined ASU pounded out 34 hits, scored 17 runs, while limiting UCLA and Washington to a combined three runs.
Beach, a junior from Scottsdale, Arizona (Chaparral High School) supplied a good portion of the offense for Arizona State. In ASU's 6-1 win over UCLA, Beach started the team's 16-hit performance with a solo home run over the right field fence to put ASU on the board. Beach later doubled to center field to drive in another run. In the game, Beach went 3-for-4 with a double, a home run, a run scored and a team-high four RBIs.
In ASU's 6-1 win over Washington, Beach set the Arizona State career record for RBIs as she launched a massive home run over the right field fence to give her 116 career RBIs. In the game, Beach went 3-for-3 with a double, a home run, a run scored, a walk and three more RBIs.
Overall on the weekend, Beach batted .700 (7-for-10) with two doubles, two home runs, two runs scored, two walks and seven RBIs. Beach also picked up her 14th win in the circle as ASU defeated UW, 5-1 on Saturday. She pitched six and two-thirds' innings, allowed only one run with six strikeouts. Beach raised her batting average 36 points over the weekend to .369. Additionally, she leads the team with seven home runs and is tied for the lead with 31 RBIs.
Voak, a junior from Fremont, California (Washington High School) picked up two of ASU's three wins. Against top-ranked UCLA, Voak pitched five and a third innings, allowing only two hits, one run, while striking out seven Bruin batters.
Voak then posted her second win on the trip in Seattle. She pitched the complete game against Washington, limiting the Huskies to three hits, one run, while striking out a season-high 12 batters. Voak struckout seven of 11 UW batters, four batters struckout two or more times and she retired the last 15 batters in a row. This is Voak's 16th career double-digit strikeout game and the second 12-strikeout game against Washington.
Overall on the weekend, Voak went 2-0, pitched 12 and two-thirds' innings, allowed only five hits, two runs, two walks, while fanning 20 batters. Voak is now 12-3 overall with a .082 ERA. She is holding opponents to a .118 batting average and has struckout 93 batters in 77 innings.
This is the third weekly honor for Beach, while Voak garners her eighth award (fifth all-time in the Pac-10) of her career. Additionally, the awards also mark the third and fourth honor this year for the Sun Devils. Arizona State has now received 30 all-time honors.