No. 1 softball snakes one by Oregon State
Even with 22 hits on the day, the No. 1 Sun Devil Softball team was only able to squeak one extra inning win on the day as they took game one against Oregon State 3-2 in twelve innings and were winning game two 6-4 after six full innings in before being forced to halt due to Pac-10 travel rules. The win puts ASU at 41-2 overall on the season and 5-0 in the Pac-10 as OSU falls to 23-18 and 2-4 in conference play. The halted game will be finished when Oregon State travels to Tempe later this month.
In game one, Renee Welty got it started for the offense in the second inning as she dug hitting only .100 as a lead-off hitter to hit an 0-1 pitch deep to left field for a solo home run, her eighth of the season, giving ASU the 1-0 lead. The Beavers came back in the fourth though, taking advantage of a costly Sun Devil error to plate two and take the lead, while OSU's Kelly Dyer kept the ASU baserunners from crossing the plate.
The Sun Devils looked to be down to their last out in the bottom of the seventh when a walk to Kaitlin Cochran miraculously came home with a Beaver error on what would have been the last out to tie it up. Aces Kelly Dyer and Katie Burkhart kept it deadlocked into extras though as they rolled through 11 innings before a single from Kaitlin Cochran in the 12th was brought home off a throwing error by OSU to take the lead. Katie Burkhart took the mound for one last half of the inning for three straight outs to collect her 22nd win on the year and ASU's 41st.
Game two started off strong for the Sun Devils as they put three on the board in the first inning as they rattled off four hits, two for extra bases to take the 3-0 lead. An additional run off a lead-off double from Mindy Cowles padded their lead to 4-0 before OSU jumped on the board in the bottom of the second, taking advantage of two hits and a walk to score two and cut ASU's lead in half 4-2. A rain delay in the third caused both teams to take shelter and halt the game for approximately 45 minutes.
Upon resuming the game, Jackie Vasquez hit her third home run of the year in the fourth, which was followed with a run from Kaitlin CochranKrista Donnenwirth and a wild pitch. OSU wouldn't go away though as they again took advantage of an ASU error to bring one home cutting the lead in half yet again 6-3. Audrey Roderfield added a solo shot to the tally to bring it to 6-4 to end Megan Elliott's outing and bring back Katie Burkhart to the circle. who singled up the middle to get on and came around with a single from
Katie Burkhart silenced the OSU bats after, allowing no hits through 1.2 innings before the game had to be halted at the end of the sixth due to time constraints with ASU's flight times. The game will be resumed when OSU travels to Tempe on April 25 before their 7 p.m. night game.