April 22, 2006
- In a come-from-behind win Saturday afternoon, the fifth-ranked Stanford Cardinal (33-9, 6-5 Pac-10) defeated No. 8 Arizona State, 3-1 Friday afternoon at Smith Stadium in Palo Alto. The Sun Devils fall to 40-7 overall and an even 4-4 in conference play.
The game remained a close pitching battle between ASU's Desiree Serrano (15-4) and SU's Becky McCullough, with both of them keeping the bats silent on either side until the fifth inning when Mindy Cowles hit her 14th home run of the season as she took a solo shot deep to left field to jump the Devils to a 1-0 lead. SU brought in Laura Severson (7-0) to relieve McCullough and finish out the game.
Stanford retaliated in the bottom of the inning as a single from Erin Howe was brought home with the help of a sacrifice bunt and a single ripped to right field by second-baseman, Tricia Aggabao to tie it up at 1-1.
The Cardinal took control in the bottom of the sixth as they added two to the scoreboard after a lead-off double from Catalina Morris was brought home with a single from Michelle Smith and a fielder's choice to Maddy Coon was plated off of a single from Erin Howe as Stanford took the 3-1 lead going into ASU's last at-bats.
The Devils were unable to answer the runs though as they went down in order in the top of the seventh, relieving the Cardinal of their last at-bats, and boosting their conference record to 6-5.
The Sun Devils will return to action again tomorrow as they face Stanford again in a 1 p.m. game in .