April 26, 2009
TEMPE, Arizona – A fifth inning rally fell short as Caylyn Carlson sparked a four run spree with her second solo homerun of the series to lead the charge, but the ASU softball team could not dig out a win over the second ranked UCLA Sunday as they dropped to the Bruins 10-4. Taking her second loss in the series was freshman pitcher Hillary Bach, as her record falls to 22-5. ASU's record goes to 7-6 in the Pac-10 and 37-11 overall as UCLA goes to 10-4 in the conference and 35-8 overall.
Jumping out of the gate early in the first was UCLA’s Megan Lanengfeld who cracked a solo shot over the left field fence. Following the lead in the third inning, Monica Harrison got her own solo homerun, also finding its way over the left field fence.
The fifth inning found the Bruin offense no different, as Katie Schroeder hits a two run dinger over the center field fence scoring Monica Harrison from first. Answering the Bruin homerun was Caylyn Carlson with a long ball hit over the left field fence, repeating her solo shot from the night before which gave ASU their only run of the game. Kaylyn Castillo kept the inning going for the Sun Devil offense as she hit a deep fly ball to center field to score Jessica Mapes to bring them back within two runs. Tying the game up at four was Katelyn Boyd, with a gap shot to left field, plating Kaitlin Cochran and Taylor Haro, who pinch ran for Castillo.
Regaining their lead in the sixth was Monica Harrison with her second homerun of the game, clearing two fences in right center field, scoring Kaila Shull from second. Taking notes from her sister Monica, was Andrea Harrison as she cracked a four bagger over the right center field fence to score Katie Schroeder. In the seventh, UCLA’s Julie Burney cleared the center field fence for a solo homerun to put the Bruins up by five runs. Putting the nail in the Sun Devil coffin was Monica Harrison, with her third homerun of the game giving the Bruin’s their final run of the game.
The Sun Devils will wrap up their home games this season when they host their rival Arizona for the finale of the “Duel in the Desert” on April 29th. They will resume play, finishing the second inning with the score 2-2, from the previous rain out game, at 5:00pm and they will play the last game of the series at 7:00pm.