May 31, 2007
Box Score | Quotes | Notes | Photo Gallery
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - In front of a record setting crowd for an opening session of 5,295 the No. 7 Arizona State Softball team opened the 2007 Women's College World Series where Northwestern's Eileen Canney pitched a one-hit shutout to top the Sun Devils 2-0. The Sun Devils are now 54-16 and will face the No. 14 DePaul Blue Demons on Saturday, June 2 at 11 a.m. where they'll look to keep their season alive.
The `Cats took the lead first in the third inning after a lead-off single from Kelly Dyer was brought around to score on a sac bunt and a RBI-double from Katie Logan, as she took a 2-2 pitch to right to plate Logan and take the 1-0 lead. The Devils threatened in the third with a lead-off walk to Kaitlin Cochran that made it to third on a sac bunt and ground out, but were unable to bring her across after a fly out to left to end the inning.
Michelle Smith stepped up in the sixth inning to snap Canney's no-hitter as she grabbed a bunt single on a 2-1 pitch to open the inning. Canney walked Kaitlin Cochran after to put two on and one out, but a strikeout and a foul fly out ended the threat and kept the `Cats ahead.
The `Cats struck again in the bottom of the sixth as Tammy Williams hit her 15th home run of the season taking a 2-0 pitch deep off the foul pole to advance Northwestern 2-0 over the Devils.
Katie Burkhart's line on the day read five hits, two runs and eight strikeouts. Burkhart's eight strikeouts on the day gives her 508 strikeouts on the season, which ties her for the all-time record for Pac-10 single-season strikeouts with Arizona's Alicia Hollowell, as well as ties her for ninth all-time in NCAA history.
The loss puts ASU into the loser bracket where they will face off against the DePaul Blue Demons in Game 7 of the World Series. Game time is 11 a.m. on Saturday June 2 to stay alive in the series. The game will be aired live on ESPNHD.