May 19, 2007
PROVO, Utah - Ten strikeouts and back-to-back home runs later the seventh-seeded Sun Devil Softball team finds themselves returning home after sweeping the Provo Regionals Saturday with a 6-3 win over the BYU Cougars in Game 6. The Sun Devils are now 52-15 overall and will now return home to host the Tempe Super Regional against the winner of the Palo Alto Regional, either Stanford or LSU.
Katie Burkhart struck out 10 on the day en route to her 33rd win of the season, which ties her for the ASU single-season record for wins with Erica Beach's effort in the 2002 season. Burkhart's 10 K's also move her to 473 on the season, good for fourth all-time in Pac-10 single-season history and 16th all-time in NCAA history. She's also tallied 1,113 career strikeouts, putting her 23rd all-time in NCAA history in career strikeouts as a junior.
The Sun Devils jumped on the scoreboard first in the third as they rattled off three hits off of Christina Gywn and capitalized on a Cougar error to plate three, taking the 3-0 lead. BYU wasn't ready to give it up yet though as they hit four straight to take three back in the bottom of the inning and knot it at three apiece.
The Sun Devils weren't ready to keep it tied though as a lead-off walk to Kristen Miller was brought home on a two run shot to left from Ashley Muenz as she battled back from a 1-2 count to hit her sixth homerun of the season, giving ASU the 5-3 boost. Up next, slapper Jackie Vasquez decided to make career history as she sent the first pitch sailing over the right center wall for her first career home run. Burkhart set it on cruise control after as the Sun Devils closed out the Regional to take the 6-3 win and advance to the NCAA Super Regional Round.
"I'm extremely proud of the girls for this weekend's effort and I take my hat off to BYU, an outstanding team with amazing coaching and players. They never gave up at any point in this Regional and I can do nothing but salute them and everything they've accomplished this season.", said Head Coach Clint Myers of the series.
The Sun Devils now head back to Tempe to prepare for hosting the Tempe Super Regional where they will face either (10) LSU or Pac-10 rival Stanford. The series will be held at ASU's Farrington Stadium in Tempe on Friday, May 25 and Saturday May 26. The winner of the Super Regional will advance to the 2007 Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City.