May 14, 2010
TEMPE, Ariz. – Even with 14 hits and a stellar game from Megan Elliott, the tenth-ranked Sun Devils were just unable to pull off the upset as the top-ranked Washington Huskies took a 5-4 win Friday night in Tempe. Elliott took the loss to fall to 11-2 on the year as ASU falls to 41-14 on the year and 10-10 in the Pac-10 while Washington improves to 44-6, 16-4.
The outing began as a battle between 2009 USA Softball Player of the Year, Danielle Lawrie with a 33-2 record on the year facing Megan Elliott entering with an 11-1 record.
The Sun Devils came out ready to rock though as they struck first with a Kaylyn Castillo RBI double to right field to bring home Lesley Rogers and take a 1-0 lead. The Huskies weren’t going to just let that slide though as two lead-off singles proved costly with Shawna Wright knocking an RBI single to right with a close play at the plate just barely going in favor of UW to take the 2-1 lead.
The Huskies added some insurance runs in the fourth inning as a walk to Morgan Stuart came back to bite the Sun Devils with Taylor Morgan stepping in to take a 0-1 pitch deep to right center for her eighth home run of the year and push it to 4-1 with the tip of the hand to UW.
ASU was ready to make them fight for it though as they broke out the fisticuffs in the sixth inning with Annie Lockwood hitting a solo shot all the way to the east coast followed with back-to-back singles before a Lesley Rogers RBI single cut UW’s lead to 4-3. But Danielle Lawrie helped get it done on both ends of the ball with a solo shot to give them the 5-3 lead.
With ASU showing signs of a possible rally in the seventh as Katie Crabb led-off with a solo home run to give ASU hope, but the offense couldn’t finish the job as Lawrie composed herself to seal the deal as ASU left 11 on base on the night and weren’t able to take the win.
Video highlights and interview to come.
The Sun Devils will suit up one last time in the regular season tomorrow as they set to close out 2010 against No. 1 Washington at noon in Tempe, Ariz.