March 21, 2009
TEMPE, Arizona – In the midst of a “Pink Out” three game series sweep against Long Beach State, ASU’s Kaitlin Cochran shone Saturday as she tied and broke the ASU career home run record hitting her 10th and 11th home run on the season against the 49ers to give her 61 career home runs, besting Mindy Cowles' 60 from 2004-08. ASU swept the last two games of the series 5-3, and 10-6, Saturday night at Farrington Stadium in Tempe, which put the sixth-ranked Sun Devils at 28-5 overall while the 49ers fall to 9-13.
In the first game of the afternoon the ASU offense came out and scored Lesley Rogers on an RBI single to right center by Katelyn Boyd. Long Beach State answered in the fifth inning with a run scored on a solo shot over the center field fence by Danielle Linke. Not to be outdone, Krista Donnenwirth hit a single to left center to plate Lesley Rogers again. With another 49er run in the sixth and seventh, it was ASU RBI’s from Lesley Rogers and Kaitlin Cochran’s two run homer shot that capped the win for the Sun Devils, 5-3. Megan Elliott pitched ASU to the W as she collected her eighth win to go 8-3 on the season.
In the last game of the series, the 49ers took an early lead plating four runs off of pitcher Hillary Bach. But the ASU bats fought back with Kaitlin Cochran’s solo long ball to right field in the first inning followed by RBI’s from Lesley Rogers, Kaylyn Castillo, Mandy Urfer and two from Jessica Mapes and Katelyn Boyd. LBSU retaliated in the sixth with two more runs, but freshman pitcher, Hillary Bach, was able to fight them off to keep the win to push her record to 15-1.
The series closes out ASU's non-conference slate as they will set to begin Pac-10 play against the Oregon schools this weekend in their home turf of Farrington Stadium in Tempe.