March 25, 2008
WALNUT CREEK, Calif. - ARIZONA STATE senior Katie Burkhart has been named the Pac-10 Softball Pitcher of the Week for March 18-24, Commissioner Tom Hansen announced today.
Burkhart, a San Luis Obispo, Calif. native threw her third no-hitter of the season over the weekend and struck out 44 batters in 25.1 innings pitched, leading the Sun Devils to a 4-1 weeekend, including a win over No. 15 Louisiana-Lafayette.
Burkhart opened the weekend striking out 16 Utah batters as she rolled to the sixth no-hitter of her career and narrowly missed her third perfect game, hitting three batters. Against Florida State on Saturday, Burkhart took only her second loss of the year but still struck out 10 Seminoles and allowed only two earned runs.
Burkhart rebounded on Sunday as the Sun Devils bested the No. 15 Ragin Cajuns, 3-1, behind the seniors eight strikeout complete-game performance. Later that day, Burkhart came in for relief and proceeded to strikeout seven of the eight batters she faced to capture her first save of the year.
Arizona State (34-2) is battling UCLA for the top spot in both the ESPN.com/USA Softball and USA Today/NFCA Top 25 polls as the teams head into Conference play this week.
The Sun Devils open Pac-10 play on the road as they travel to California on Fri., March 28 and Stanford on Sat., March 29 and Sun., March 30.
This is Burkharts eighth career Pitcher of the Week honor, second this year, and the 54th all-time for Arizona State.
ALSO NOMINATED: Marissa Drewrey, CAL; Melissa Rice, ORE; Missy Penna, STAN.
2008 PAC-10 SOFTBALL PITCHERS OF THE WEEK: Feb. 12 - Missy Penna, STAN; Feb. 19- Katie Burkhart, ASU; Feb. 26- Anjelica Selden, UCLA; March 4- Donna Kerr, UCLA; March 11- Anjelica Selden, UCLA; March 18- Marissa Drewrey, CAL; March 25- Katie Burkhart, ASU