May 3, 2000
TEMPE, Ariz. - The fifth-ranked Arizona State Sun Devils (39-13, 7-8 Pac-10) will conclude its regular season homestand this weekend against third-ranked UCLA (35-8-1, 10-4 Pac-10) on Friday, May 5 at 6:00 p.m. and against top-ranked Washington (52-5, 12-2 Pac-10) on Saturday, May 6 at 6:00 p.m. and Sunday, May 7 at 1:00 p.m. The UCLA game will be televised locally by Cox Communications (cable channel 9) with George Allen and Doug Gerlach announcing.
NEW PAC-10 FORMAT: Except for ASU's last conference match up against Stanford on May 13, this year all Pac-10 games will be single games (Fri., Sat., Sun.) instead of the traditional doubleheaders. Also, instead of the usual 28 game format, Pac-10 teams will now play 21 conference games.
WEEKEND IN REVIEW: The Sun Devils posted a 1-2 record against the Oregon schools. Oregon edged ASU, 1-0, in Eugene, while ASU split with Oregon State in Corvallis, dropping the first game, 0-3, and winning the second, 6-0. Against the Ducks, ASU had several chances to score throughout the game, including a first inning base loaded situation with one out. The Sun Devils stranded 10 runners, seven in scoring position. Kirsten Voak kept the Sun Devils in the game by allowing Oregon only three hits while striking out nine. ASU scattered eight by seven different players. In the first game against the Beavers, ASU only manage two hits, one each by Jamie Hlebechuk and Andrea Rodgers. However, in the finale, ASU unloaded six runs off seven hits as Voak shutout OSU on a three-hitter. The Sun Devils jumped out early and never looked back, posting three runs in the first and three more in the fifth. Voak, who fanned nine on the day, struckout the first three batters holding OSU hittless until the fourth inning. Voak also allowed only one batter to reach second, but she was quickly dispatched by a Kara Brun to Missy Hixon double play. ASU capitalized on three hits, a walk and a hit by a pitch to score the three runs in the first inning. It was almost a similar situation in the fifth. ASU posted two hits, a walk and another hit by a pitch to extend its lead to 6-0. Brun led ASU at the plate, going 2-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored, while Sara Kahler went 1-for-3 with three RBIs. Nichole Thompson also had an outstanding day, offensively and defensively. Thompson went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and a stolen base. In the outfield, she first made a diving catch of a line drive, saving an extra base hit and then later making a spectacular, snow cone catch on a deep ball after getting turned around.
GRAND SLAMMIN': So far this season, ASU has hit four grand slam home runs by three different players. Erica Beach with two, Andrea Rodgers and Jamie Hlebechuk each with one.
TOUGH SCHEDULE/TOUGHER CONFERENCE: As in any season, Arizona State will face many of the nation's top programs. Within the toughest conference in the nation, the Pacific-10, ASU will face a nationally-ranked ranked team every time out. For the 10th consecutive week, all eight Pac-10 teams are ranked in the top-25, including four of the top five positions, while six of the eight Pac-10 teams are ranked in the top-10. Pac-10 teams hold a 268-45-2 (.854) record against non-conference opponents. Additionally, last season all eight teams made postseason apperances with five advancing to the College World Series.
HEAD COACH LINDA WELLS: Arizona State's storied tradition of softball excellence has flourished under the tutelage of 11th-year head coach Linda Wells, one of the most prominent and successful coaches in NCAA history. Wells, who is currently the 10th-most successful active coach in NCAA Division I history, claimed her 700th win at this year's Fiesta Bowl Tournament as ASU defeated Cal State Fullerton, 8-3. Wells, who holds a 733-578-1 career record, has led the Sun Devils to seven NCAA Regional appearances in 10 seasons, including her first trip to the College World Series in 1999. While at Arizona State, Wells has compiled a record of 382-284 and has had five players earn a total of seven All-American awards.
LIFE'S A BEACH: Sophomore pitcher/designated player Erica Beach is building on her successful freshman campaign that saw her garner NFCA first-team All-American honors. This year in the circle, Beach is 12-7 with six shutouts, a 1.73 ERA and 60 strikeouts. Against Portland State, Beach set a new career-high in strikeouts with seven. At the plate, Beach is batting .348 with seven home runs, including two grand slams and a team-high 42 RBIs. She is batting .424 with runners in scoring position and has posted 11 multi-hit games, including a career-high 4-for-4 performance against CS Fullerton. Beach also has 10 multi-RBI games, including one five RBI game. Beach was named the Pac-10 Player of the Week (3/17) after batting .500 with seven RBIs, helping ASU win the NIST. With her seven home runs this year, Beach is now tied for the all-time single-season mark at ASU. Also her 12 career home runs are good for third all-time, while her 81 career RBIs is good for eighth all-time. Additionally, Beach's 42 RBIs has already surpassed her total from last year (39). She needs only four more to set a new single-season record at ASU.
VOAK'S RESUME: Sophomore All-American pitcher/designated player Kirsten Voak is also picking up where she left off last season. After an ASU record-setting 24 win, 314 strikeout season last year, Voak keeps setting a new mark this year as posted her 27th win against Oregon State. Voak is currently 27-6 with 12 shutouts, a 0.91 ERA and 267 strikeouts. Voak fired her first no-hitter of the season (third career) against Simon Fraser and struckout a season-high 15 against Oregon, which also ties her career-high. Voak has also earned three Pac-10 Pitcher of the Week honors (2/22), (3/17), (4/3), with her latest coming against the Oregon schools (3/31, 4/1-2). Voak posted a 2-0 record, picking up wins over 11th-ranked Oregon State and 23rd-ranked Oregon. Against Oregon, Voak tied her career-high for strikeouts in a game with 15, while not walking a batter. To begin the game, Voak struck out eight of the first 11 batters, while striking out the side two times. Additionally, Voak struckout every Oregon batter at least once, while four batters struckout two or more times. Against OSU, Voak limited the Beavers to three hits, one run, while posting nine strikeouts ... After recording four wins in the Louisville Slugger Tournament where she pitched 24 innings, allowed only three runs, no walks, while striking out 30 ... Voak again earned the honor after posting a 5-0 record, including three shutouts at the NIST. She pitched in six games, totaling 33 innings, allowed only three runs, while striking out 42. For her efforts, Voak earned her second NIST All-Tournament honor. Voak was also named to her second NFCA Leadoff Classic All-Tournament team as she recorded three shutouts, pitched 27.1 innings, allowed only eight hits, no earned runs, four walks, while striking out 31. Voak's averaging 8.3 strikeouts per game and holding opponents to a .165 average. At the plate, she is batting .341 with a home run, seven doubles, 26 runs, 18 RBIs and has walked 30 times. Voak has a career total of 581 strikeouts, good for second all-time in ASU history and 51 wins, good for fourth all-time.
Voak's Career Double-Digit Strikeout Games (15):
15 - Oregon, 7 innings (4/2/00)
15 - Central Michigan, 8.1 innings (5/20/99)
14 - Utah, 7.1 innings (3/13/99)
13 - Santa Clara, 7 innings (3/10/00)
13 - Florida Atlantic, 7 innings (5/22/99)
12 - UNLV, 7 innings (3/26/00)
12 - Iowa, 7 innings (3/17/00)
12 - Portland State, 7 innings (2/26/00)
12 - Nebraska, 7 innings (2/13/99)
12 - Oregon State, 6 innings (4/24/99)
12 - Washington, 8 innings (4/10/99)
11 - Utah, 7 innings (3/10/00)
11 - Illinois State, 7 innings (2/20/00)
10 - Oregon, 7 innings (4/25/99)
10 - Utah, 7 innings (3/18/99)
JUNIOR OLYMPIAN TRIO: Leading Team USA with the most players on its roster, Arizona State sophomore's Missy Hixon and Kirsten Voak, along with freshman Kara Brun collected silver medals at the 1999 International Softball Federation Junior Women's World Championships in Taipei, Taiwan. Hixon, who played and started in seven games, finished with a .400 batting average (10-25) and was second on team with nine RBIs and three doubles. Hixon also finished third in runs scored (9) and fourth in hits (10) and batting average. Brun played in six games, starting five and also batted .400 (6-15). She finished tied for second on the team in doubles (3) and third in RBIs (8). Voak tied for the team-high in wins with three, recorded a team-second best 33 strikeouts and had a 0.35 ERA. In 20 innings pitched, opponents batted a miniscule 0.76, both team-highs. Voak combined with teammate Keira Goerl to no-hit Chinese Taipei, 4-0. Voak fired the first four innings, striking out seven while giving up only one walk for her first win. Against Venezuela, Voak struckout 12 batters in six innings for her second win. She then propelled Team USA into the gold medal game by throwing her second complete game, allowing only three hits and striking out 11 against Taipei. Voak also posted a save against New Zealand, pitching three innings of no-hit ball.
BRUN'S A HIT: Freshman shortstop Kara Brun has made an immediate impact this year, offensively and defensively. At the plate, Brun leads the team in hits (56), doubles (12), total bases (89), and is second in batting average (.350), RBIs (33) and runs scored (37). Brun is also tied for the team-high with seven home runs, three coming the way of game-winners. She needs one more long ball to set the single-season record (8). Brun has posted 14 multi-hit games, seven multi-RBI games and held a team-high 16 game hitting streak. On the field, the strong-arm shortstop leads the team in assists (106) and has committed only four errors for a .978 fielding percentage.
ASU'S NATIONAL RANKING: Individually: Voak is sixth in most pitching victories (27), 15th in strikeouts per seven innings (8.3) and 19th in ERA (0.91). As a team: Arizona State is 11th in fielding percentage (.971), 14th in pitching ERA (1.19), 18th in batting average (.299) and 19th in winning percentage (.750).
CAREER/ALL-TIME MILESTONES: Head Coach Linda Wells needs 17 wins to reach 750 ... Erica Beach needs three more home runs to move into second all-time ... Beach needs four RBIs for the single-season record ... Voak needs 47 strikeouts to re-set her single-season mark at ASU, and 225 strikeouts for the all-time record ... Missy Hixon needs 17 more doubles for the all-time record ... Kara Brun needs six more doubles for the single-season record ... Arizona State, as a program, needs 33 more wins to reach 900 in its history ... ASU is two home runs shy of a new all-time school record ... ASU needs five more wins to set a new single-season record (44).
DYNAMIC DUO: Sophomores Missy Hixon and Nichole Thompson, who play second base and center field respectively, each contribute in similar ways. Hixon has started and played in all 52 games with Thompson starting and playing in 49 ...Thompson's hitting a team-high .367, Hixon .310 ... Thompson has 55 hits, Hixon with 52 ... Thompson has scored a team-high 39 times, Hixon 26 ... Hixon has 16 RBIs, while Thompson has produced 14 ... Hixon has 10 doubles, Thompson has seven ... Thompson leads the team with 17 multi-hit games, Hixon is one behind at 16 ... Hixon and Thompson have each posted three multi-RBI games ... combined the two have struckout only 16 times in 318 at bats (once per 20 at bats) ... Hixon has walked 13 times, Thompson 12 ... Hixon has produced two home runs from the leadoff spot ... Thompson had a team-high 16 game hitting streak ... Thompson was also named to the NFCA Leadoff Classic All-Tournament team by batting .500 (9-18) with six runs scored and two stolen bases.
DEVIL NOTES: ASU has hit 25 home runs (including four grand slams) this year by eight different players (all-time mark of 26 total HRs in '99) ... ASU has outscored its opponents 232-83, including 76-20 in the first and second innings combined ... Beach and Voak are combining to limit opponents to one walk a game, while striking out nearly seven ... opponents are batting only .188 against ASU ... 13 players have at least two RBIs, including 10 in double-digits ... most of the time, ASU starts eight underclassmen ... ASU's longest winning streak of the year - 9 games (3 times) ... ASU has allowed one sacrifice fly this season, while the Sun Devils have posted 13 ... ASU is averaging just under five runs a game, while holding opponents to just over one run ... ASU has recorded 17 games with double-digit hits.
| Name | Yr. | Pos. | B/T | Avg. | Notes |
| Erica Beach | So. | P/DH | L/L | .348 | 12-7 record, has 47 hits, 7 home runs and 42 RBIs |
| Kirsten Voak | So. | P/DH | R/R | .341 | 27-6 record with 267 Ks, one no-hitter, 12 shutouts |
| Sara Kahler | Fr. | C | L/R | .339 | Has tallied 30 RBIs with one home run, 6 k's in 112 at bats |
| Erin Wardein | So. | 1B | R/R | .175 | 3 home runs and 18 RBIs, had game-winning home run vs. UCLA |
| Missy Hixon | So. | 2B | L/R | .310 | 52 hits, 2 home runs and 10 doubles from the leadoff slot |
| Kara Brun | Fr. | SS | R/R | .350 | 7 home runs, 33 RBIs, 37 runs, team-high 56 hits, 12 doubles |
| Stacey Farnworth | Jr. | 3B | R/R | .243 | 1-for-3 with a RBI against Oregon (4/2) |
| Nichole Thompson | So. | OF | L/R | .367 | Team-leading 39 runs scored, 55 hits, 7 doubles, 6 stolen bases |
| Jamie Hlebechuck | Sr. | OF | R/L | .300 | 3 home runs, 1 grand slam, game-winning home run vs. Arizona |
| Jennifer Forner | Fr. | OF | L/L | .189 | 2-for-2 with 2 RBIs against Oregon (4/2), has 11 total runs scored |
| Lesley Murphy | Sr. | 1B | L/L | .179 | 1-for-2 with a run scored against Oregon (4/2) |
| Jen Langenhuizen | Jr. | OF | L/R | .192 | 1-for-2 against California, has scored 4 runs |
| Andrea Rodgers | Sr. | C | R/R | .243 | Hit first career home run (grand slam) against Michigan State |
MEDIA INFORMATION: All publicity for the ASU softball team are coordinated by Assistant Media Relations Director Will Phillips. Any interviews with ASU softball players or coaches should be arranged through Phillips with at least 48 hours notice.