April 7, 2007
TUCSON, Ariz. - For the third consecutive game, the No. 7 Sun Devil Softball team fell in a 1-0 loss off of an unearned run, as they dropped their second game Saturday night to in-state rival, the No. 5 Arizona Wildcats at Hillenbrand Stadium in Tucson. The Sun Devils are now 36-10 overall and 2-3 in Pac-10 play while UA rises to 28-8 overall and 4-1 in conference play.
In an old fashioned Pac-10 pitching duel, the game saw Katie Burkhart throw a four-hit complete game, with seven Wildcat strikeouts on the night, but Arizona's Taryne Mowatt bested the battle on the night as she had a two-hit complete game shutout with 10 Sun Devil K's. Burkhart is now 18-8 on the year with Mowatt improving to 21-8.
The match-up remained deadlocked at zeros until the bottom of the second when a lead-off walk to Callista Balko got pushed to second on a passed ball and reached third with a sacrifice bunt by Sam Banister, who also reached on a throwing error. Balko came home to score off a fielder's choice to home that was too late to break the deadlock and give the `Cats a 1-0 edge.
That was all the `Cats needed as the Sun Devils threatened in the fifth with Ashley Muenz crushing a ball to deep center field on a full count, only to be cut down with an amazing catch by Caitlin Lowe. Kaitlin Cochran also accounted for the Sun Devils' only hits on the night as she went 2-for-3 at the plate with a double in the fourth and a single in the seventh, which was almost plated with a deep ball to right from Caylyn Carlson, but it didn't have enough on it as UA's Adrienne Acton pulled it in to end the game.
The Sun Devils will return home for two weeks now as they set to host their first Pac-10 games of the season as the Cal Golden Bears and the Stanford Cardinal roll into town on Friday, April 13 through Sunday, April 15. The Friday, April 13 game versus Cal will be covered by Fox Sports Net Arizona with a start time of 7 p.m.