Feb. 18, 2006
Tempe, Ariz. - The 2006 Littlewood Classic rolled on Saturday afternoon bringing the Devils head-to-head again with the #19 Hawkeyes of Iowa and the Red Birds of Illinois State, where the Devils prevailed to win both games, one in extra innings against Iowa, to give them a current record of 11-0.
The Devils kicked off their first game of the day against Iowa at 3:15, and almost three hour and two extra innings later, walked away with a 10-7 win over the 19-seed, Iowa.
The game proved to be the toughest battle the Sun Devils have seen all season, but their bats prevailed as they came out swinging in the first with a single from Mindy Cowles followed with a walk to Katie Cochran only to have first-baseman Kim Zadrozny step up to crush a three-run home run over the centerfield wall to jump the Devils out to a 3-0 lead.
After a quiet second inning, center fielder, Kaitlin Cochran stepped up to hit her sixth home run of the season in the third giving the Devils a comfortable 4-0 score.
While the Devil defense and pitching kept the Hawkeyes at bay, with Desiree Serrano allowing only two hits until the fifth inning, when Iowa's Sami Baugh hit a single home run to push the Hawkeyes to a 4-1 score.
Serrano stepped up to strike out the next two batters, then facing lead-off hitter Mindy Heidgerken stumbled trying to make the play, hurting her ankle.
Serrano gritted through the rest of the inning though only allowing a run and two more hits before striking out Kylie Murray to end the inning in a 4-2 score.
The Hawkeyes weren't done though, and rallied back in the sixth to tack on two more runs off of two hits and an error to tie the score at 7-7.
Neither the Devils nor the Hawkeyes were able to score in the seventh to push the game to extra innings, where the bats came alive for both teams.
In the eighth with runner Jessica Mapes placed on second for the international tie-break rule, the Devils went on the offensive attack with Mapes reaching third on a sacrifice bunt from Vasquez and then a huge home run from Sharee Zaleski who pinch-hit for Michelle Smith.
The Devils weren't done with the inning though as second-baseman, Mindy Cowles hit her fourth home-run of the season to give the Devils a 7-4 lead.
Iowa stepped up to prove in the bottom of the eighth that they were there to play as they brought in three runs off of a Sun Devil error and two singles to drag the game out into nine innings.
It was the ninth though where the Devils stepped up to bring down the Hawkeyes with Bridgette Caron on second followed by a walk to Kim Zadrozny, only to have Ashley Werschky come up big for the Devils with a double to drive home two runs.
Werschky was later hit home off a sacrifice fly from Bianca Cruz to put the Devils up 10-7.
Katie Burkhart jumped in to pitch another amazing inning in the ninth to seal the win in the ninth by shutting down the Hawkeyes with a line-out followed by two strikeouts for Burkhart.
In the second game, the Devils made quick work of the Red Birds where in the first inning they grabbed a quick 3-0 lead with a two-RBI single to right field with the bases loaded from catcher Kristen Miller.
In the third Kristen Miller struck again with a lead-off single home run, followed by three more hits and three more runs from her fellow Sun Devils including Jen McCard who had a double to left center to add on more runs giving the Devils a 7-0 score by the end of the third.
In the fourth, Ashley Werschky nailed a single home run to give the Devils an 8-0 lead, which would prove to be all they would need as their solid defense and pitching from Werschky kept the Red Birds quiet ending the game in five innings.
The Sun Devil Softball squad jumps to an amazing and unblemished 11-0 and will return to action again tomorrow as the final day of the Littlewood Classic kicks off with a double-header for the Devils as they take on #19 Iowa at 9:30 a.m. and the Illinois State Red Birds at noon at Farrington Stadium.