May 21, 2005
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The Arizona State University softball team dropped a 2-1 decision to Hofstra at the 2005 NCAA Region 12 Tournament Saturday night and fell from the postseason event that was being held at the Alabama Softball Complex in Tuscaloosa, Ala. The Sun Devils finish the season with a 30-26 record while the Pride moved to 42-15-1 on the year and will face Alabama Sunday for the right to advance to the Super Regional event.
The loss not only ended the Sun Devils' season, it also capped the brilliant 16-year career for Head Coach Linda Wells. Only the second coach in the 39-year history of the program, Wells, who announced her retirement from coaching at the end of last season, finished her career in Tempe with a record of 563 wins and 415 losses at the helm of the ASU program and stands 914-679-1 in her 31-year career. In her time with the Sun Devils, she guided ASU to 12 NCAA appearances with two trips to the Women's College World Series where the team finished third in 2002 and seventh in 1999.
Against the Pride, the Sun Devils struck first with a solo run in the top half of the third inning as Sharee Zaleski got things started with a leadoff single. Michelle Smith and Bridgette Caron each reached on errors while putting down sacrifice bunts to advance Zaleski to set up Kim Zadrozny, who tallied an RBI on a groundout to the shortstop.
ASU's lead was not safe as the Pride used small ball to score twice for a 2-1 lead after three. In the bottom half of the frame, Morris led off with a single before Sweeney followed with a single of her own to place runners at first and second. Wambold then put down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners before Lane flared a shot to shallow right field that went for a sacrifice fly and a 1-1 tie score. One pitch later, Ulrich slipped a single into the left center gap to bring home Sweeney for the 2-1 lead.
The next two innings saw the Sun Devils tally one hit with two other players reaching base (one error and one fielder's choice), but were unable to bring them home. Hofstra also had little luck in the fourth and fifth innings as the Pride went three-up and three-down in both frames with Sun Devil starter Desiree Serrano collecting a trio of strikeouts, including two looking to end the fifth.
Much as the previous two innings, the Sun Devils' final two innings went the same as ASU could manage only one base runner as Knabe earned a two-out walk in the sixth. After a one-two-three side for the Pride, the Sun Devils also went down in order to end the game, 2-1.
Serrano, who went six innings in absorbing the loss, slipped to 12-9 on the season after allowing two runs on only four hits while recording six strikeouts compared to one walk. Callie Osborne earned the win to move to 31-6 on the season after going the distance and allowing one run on four hits with six strikeouts.
Caron, Sevilla, Knabe and Zaleski collected the four hits ASU recorded on the day while Zadrozny brought home the lone run batted in. For the season, Sevilla finished among two record categories as her seven home runs and 14 doubles rank as the 12th and sixth-most, respectively, in a single season. Zaleski, who crushed a home run against Hofstra one day earlier, rankes fourth on the single season list with 12 while Mindy Cowles sits fifth with 10 round-trippers. In the circle, Katie Burkhart recorded 220 strikeouts to push her into the No. 6 position on the single season list for pitchers.