April 9, 2006
- Gritting out 13 innings in over four hours of play, the No. 8 Sun Devil Softball Team pulled out a tough 5-4 win over the No. 14 Washington Huskies (28-12, 2-4 Pac-10) Sunday afternoon at Farrington Stadium, pushing the Sun Devils to 38-5 overall and 2-2 in conference play.
The game proved to be a tough pitching duel between the two teams as Desiree Serrano got the starting nod for ASU where she fanned 11, but allowed nine hits and four runs in seven innings of work before Katie Burkhart came in to relieve her and shut the door on the Huskies, allowing no hits and striking out five in six innings of play.
The Huskies struck first in the third as a walk and a Sun Devil error placed two in scoring position for with a single from third-baseman Sarah Hyatt plating both. ASU answered the runs in the bottom of the inning as an error gave Jackie Vasquez first followed with a two-run shot to right field from clean-up hitter, Rhiannon Baca to tie it up 2-2.
The Huskies came back in the sixth to add to more as a walk was hit home from a two-run long ball to center field from UW's Lauren Greer as Washington upped the score 4-2. ASU was only able to answer with one in the bottom of the inning as Mindy Cowles was walked and later brought home off a fielder's choice hit from Sharee Zaleski. The Sun Devils evened the score in the seventh as a lead-off single from Jackie Vasquez was brought home with smart base-running and singles from Rhiannon Baca and Jenn McCard, pushing the game to extra innings.
From there ASU's Katie Burkhart and UW's Danielle Lawrie battled it out for six extra innings until ASU brought a run home in the 13th inning as a lead-off single from Bridgette Caron was advanced around by an error and a sacrifice bunt before finally being plated with a shot to the left field wall from Rhiannon Baca, giving ASU the win.
The #8 Sun Devils will return to action this week as they set for their annual `Duel in the Desert', versus in-state rivals, the #3 Wildcats of Arizona on April 14 and 15. Both games are set to start at 7 p.m. and will be played at ASU's Farrington Stadium.