April 20, 2007
TEMPE, Ariz. - Mindy Cowles went 2-for-2 with two home runs and three RBIs on the night as the No. 7 Sun Devil Softball team topped the No. 14 Oregon Ducks 4-2 Friday night in Tempe at Farrington Stadium. The Sun Devils are now 41-10 overall and 7-3 in Pac-10 play, while Oregon drops to 38-9 overall and 3-6 in conference.
The game remained at a deadlock until the fourth inning when the Sun Devil offense began to ignite, hitting four of their six total hits on the night for three runs. Kaitlin Cochran started the rally with a 2-1 pitch looped to left for the first hit of the night. She was plated with a double smashed to left center from Bianca Cruz, who tied the single-season RBI record of 61, set by Kaitlin Cochran in 2006, on the play. Ashley Muenz followed suit with a double down the right line as Mindy Cowles dug in to hit her eighth home run of the season taking the first pitch she saw deep to center, pushing ASU up 3-0.
The Sun Devils added another in the sixth inning as Mindy Cowles caught fire again, launching a solo shot to right center off a 1-2 count, to bring her season tally to nine and the score to 4-0 going into the seventh.
The Ducks weren't done yet though as they broke up Katie Burkhart's perfect game in the seventh, with Suzie Barnes drawing a walk before Jennifer Salling hit a two run bomb to center off a 2-0 pitch to bring the score to 4-2. Burkhart came back to shut down the Ducks though with a ground out and one of her ten strikeouts on the night.
The Sun Devils will return to action again tomorrow night as they face the Oregon Beavers at home in Tempe. First pitch is set to go at 7 p.m.