March 7, 2008
TEMPE, Ariz. - Four Sun Devil home runs, two from Mindy Cowles alone, and two wins for Katie Burkhart wrapped Day One of the Diamond Devils Invitational for No. 1 Softball as they topped Utah 9-0 and UC Davis 10-7. The Sun Devils are now 24-1 overall riding a 21 game win streak headed into Day Two of the Diamond Devil Invitational.
Kristen Miller got it started for the Sun Devil offense in game one as she tore a 2-1 pitch deep to center field for her sixth home run on the season. ASU added another run in the third as a costly Utah error put Kaitlin Cochran on third where Mindy Cowles hit a single up the middle to plate her and take a 2-0 lead.
After adding two more in the sixth the Sun Devils were able to add five in the seventh as Utah struggled in the circle walking five in the inning and allowing two hits. Katie Burkhart cruised to her 12th win of the season as she allowed only one hit and struck out 13 to close out game one Friday night.
Game two turned out to be slugfest as the UC Davis Aggies jumped out with five run lead in the first after hitting a two-RBI double and a three-run home run off Megan Elliott. The Sun Devils answered in the bottom half of the inning with a three run shot from Mindy Cowles for her sixth on the season followed by a two-run blast to left from Krista Donnenwirth for her seventh on the season.
Knotted at five, the Aggies added two more in the second after an ASU error and a huge two-RBI double down the left line to take the lead again 7-5. Mindy Cowles and the Devils still weren't done though in when Mindy hit her second home run of the game in her next at-bat to tie it at seven.
UC Davis rallied again though in the fourth as Julie Stauder hit her first home run of the season to give UCD the 8-7 edge. The Sun Devils wouldn't go away though as they took the edge for the first time in the game in the sixth scoring two off three hits before adding a final tenth run in the sixth to secure their margin and the win, Burkhart's 13th on the season.
The Diamond Devil Invitational continues tomorrow as the Sun Devils set to take on No. 17 San Diego State and Pacific at 3:30 and 5:30 p.m. Tournament games start at 9 a.m. in Tempe at Farrington Stadium.