Feb. 9, 2008
LAS VEGAS, Nev. - The No. 2 Sun Devil Softball team opened their 2008 season Saturday afternoon in Las Vegas at the Sportco Kick-off Classic where they topped Loyola-Chicago 8-0 in five innings and Texas Tech 2-0 to start the season 2-0. The losses dropped the Loyola Ramblers to 2-2 on the year and Texas Tech to 0-4.
In game one versus Loyola, Megan Elliott pitched a complete-game shutout allowing only four hits to the Ramblers and striking out four. On offense the Sun Devils posted five hits on LUC's Krista Crosson for three runs before breaking out in the fifth inning to tab four hits on Angie Funston for five runs.
Katie Crabb went 3-for-3 in the game with a two-run home run and two runs scored. Freshman Krista Donnenwirth also had a great debut, going 2-for-3 with two RBI, one of which was the walk-off RBI single to wrap the game early in the fifth, giving ASU their eighth run.
In game two against the Texas Tech Red Raiders, the game remained knotted at zeros until the sixth inning when Jackie Vasquez led-off with a single to shallow left, where she was brought home by a two-run shot to left center from Kaitlin Cochran to take the lead 2-0.
Katie Burkhart took the mound for the first time all season and pitched a two-hit complete game shutout against the Red Raiders, as she struck out 12 and pulled off a near-perfection gem to keep the Sun Devils in it until the offense got rolling in the sixth.
The Sun Devils return to action tomorrow as they wrap up the Sportco Kick-Off Classic in Las Vegas at UNLV's Eller Media Softball Complex. They take on the Loyola Ramblers at 11:00 a.m. and wrap the weekend against host team UNLV at 1:00 p.m.