April 9, 2011
EUGENE, Ore. Ð Wielding red-hot bats that collected 15 hits for ten runs the third-ranked Sun Devil Softball team rallied up to take down the No. 16 Oregon Ducks in a 10-5 slugfest Saturday afternoon in Eugene. The Sun Devils are now 37-3 on the year and 4-1 in Pac-10 play with Mackenzie Popescue taking the win to move to 10-1 on the season. Oregon drops to 29-8 on the year and 1-4 in conference action.
The Sun Devils attacked the board first right in off the bat with an RBI double from Annie Lockwood in the first inning to take a 1-0 lead which proved to be short-lived as Kailee Cuico crushed a three run shot off Dallas Escobedo to take a 3-1 lead after one complete.
ASU answered back scoring eight unanswered runs in the second through fourth inning with RBI hits from Sam Parlich, Kaylyn Castillo, Katelyn Boyd and a home run from Mandy Urfer to take a commanding 7-3 lead. The Ducks had some fire left though as they added one to the board which saw Mackenzie Popescue enter the game in relief for Escobedo.
An error gave ASU an insurance run to bring their total to ten in the game before handing it over to Popescue to close out who allowed just one run while striking out three en route to her tenth win of the season and her career.
The Sun Devils will close out the series tomorrow against Oregon as they set to take on the Ducks one last time at 11 a.m. PT in Eugene at Howe Field.