April 27, 2012
SEATTLE, Wash. - The Arizona State softball team picked up its 40th win of the year on an 18-1 routing of No. 11 Washington in five innings Friday night at Husky Softball Stadium. Lowe's Senior CLASS Award Finalist Katelyn Boyd became the all-time leader at ASU in RBI during the contest.
Arizona State is now 40-5 and 12-2 in Pac-12 while Washington falls to 36-12 and 7-11 in conference play. Dallas Escobedo picked up the win, moving her to 15-4 overall while Kasey Stanchek gets the loss for the Huskies dropping her to 9-2.
ASU jumped to a hot start when Bailey Wigness extended her 10-game hitting streak with a RBI-single to left in the top of the second that scored Sam Parlich. Katelyn Boyd followed two batters later with a two-run jack to right for her 18th long ball of the year. Alix Johnson then smacked a homer to the deepest part of the field in the next at-bat to close out the frame with the Sun Devils leading 4-0.
Boyd finished the game 2-for-3 at the plate with three runs, six RBI and two walks. She is now the all-time leader at ASU in RBI with 231. In single-season records, her two homers on the day tie her for second with 19 - which is also a personal best.
18-1 win boosts ASU to 40-5, 12-2 @pac12 @SparkyArizonaSt @asu @NCAAsoftball thats a nice 889 win% thesundevils.com/sports/w-softb...
— ASU Softball (@ASUSoftball) April 28, 2012
In the third, ASU loaded the bases twice and scored four runs on three hits to cushion its lead to 8-0. Amber Freeman's double down the left line brought around Elizabeth Caporuscio who was on first after a single to left center. Despite a Washington pitching change, the Sun Devils loaded the bases for the first time to see Nikole Afusia being hit by pitch to plate Kayla Ketchum (6-0) and Johnson plating a pair to make it 8-0.
Washington brought in its lone run, 8-1, in the bottom of the fourth when Kimi Pohlman scored, unearned, on Kaitlin Inglesby single to center.
A 10-run fifth inning boosted the eventual final score of 18-1 (5). Highlights of the fifth included: Boyd's second grand slam of the season, her fifth multiple home run game of her career; 12 runners reaching base; two home runs.
The win marked ASU's 20th mercy rule of the season, the fourth time the Sun Devils have hit four homers in 2012, and the largest margin of victory this season (17).
FOLLOW THE SUN DEVILS LIVE
Fox Sports Arizona will show a tape delay of Friday's game on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. PT on Fox Sports Arizona and Saturday at 3:30 p.m. on Fox Sports West - check TV listings for the channel. Live stats and play-by-play will be available for the Washington series on GameTracker. All links can be found in the sidebar on the Arizona State softball schedule page, which is found here.
UP NEXT:
Game two of the series is scheduled for 4 p.m. Saturday. Live stats can be found on the ASU schedule page, here and live video (Saturday and Sunday) here.
VOTE FOR BOYD FOR THE LOWE'S SENIOR CLASS AWARD | Katelyn Boyd has been chosen as one of the 2012 finalist. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence - community, classroom, character and competition. Vote for Katelyn at www.seniorclassaward.com/vote.
CLOTHING DRIVE AT SOFTBALL, MAY 4-6
The weekend of May 4-6 the softball team will have a table set up at Farrington Stadium to accept donations for Helen's Hope Chest throughout the weekend as the Sun Devils take on Utah in the season home finale. Senior designated player Nikole Afusia is an intern at Helen's Hope Chest - we invite you to learn more about this event here.