Feb. 20, 2010
TEMPE, Ariz. – With Hillary Bach and Megan Elliott both collecting wins in the circle and Katelyn Boyd bringing a spicy bat to the plate, hitting over .570 on the night, the No. 5 ASU Softball Team got back on track Saturday as they topped Texas State 6-3 and Iowa 7-4 in Day Two of the Littlewood Classic. Bach improves to 3-0 while Elliott is 4-1 as ASU rolls to an 8-2 overall record.
Game one slated Hillary Bach versus the Texas State Bobcats where she went the complete seven, allowing only six hits and striking out two. She got a little help from her friends in the top half of the innings as well as ASU peppered the scoreboard with seven hits, two apiece from Katelyn Boyd and Lacy Goodman, who both doubled in the game as well.
An RBI single in the third gave Texas the upper hand, but the moment as ASU retaliated in the top of the 4th as Mandy Urfer pulled a walk and Annie Lockwood reached on an error before Lacy Goodman slapped a double to right center in one of her first collegiate at bats to plate two and take the lead.
Texas State knotted the score at 2-2 in the bottom half of the inning, but ASU racked up a big sixth inning with four runs on four hits, one an RBI double down the right field line for Katelyn Boyd, which sealed the deal for the Devils as ASU took off with the win.
The nightcap of a cold and drizzly February day slated the Sun Devils versus the Iowa Hawkeyes, who were fresh off a win over the Illinois State Redbirds earlier in the day. Megan Elliott who kept the vicious Hawkeye bats at bay with five strikeouts and only eight hits.
The Sun Devils wanted to again prove that they need not score first to make the last mark in the book as Iowa came out throwing punches, as a single put one on for Chelsey Carmody who gave a 1-1 pitch a ticket to ride deep to left center to take the 2-0 lead. ASU retaliated by tacking one on the board in the second and plating three more off four hits in the third to take the lead 4-2 after three complete.
While Iowa managed to pull it even in the bottom of four, ASU’s Christina Zambrana cracked a two-RBI single to right field in the fifth to put the Sun Devils ahead for good as Katelyn Boyd placed the cherry on top in the sixth with a solo shot to right center for her seventh home run on the season to place the score at it’s would-be final resting place of 7-4.
The Sun Devils will wrap the 2010 Littlewood Classic tomorrow as they set to take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights one last time with a first pitch time set to 1 p.m. in Tempe at Farrington Stadium.