April 28, 2012
SEATTLE, Wash. - Saturday saw Arizona State softball top Washington, 6-3, courtesy of Alix Johnson's second grand slam of the year. The Sun Devils are now 41-5 overall and 13-2 in Pac-12 play.
Alix Johnson's seventh-inning heroics allowed the Sun Devils to top Washington for a late 6-3 victory at Husky Softball Stadium. Johnson recorded her second grand slam of the season and her eighth homer of the year during her 2-for-4 performance at the dish.
The board remained unlit through two full frames, but Washington (36-13, 7-12) would be the first to tack a run up, the first after Kimberlee Souza homered to left in the bottom of the third. The Huskies made it a 3-0 lead after a two-run home run by Kaitlin Inglesby in the same frame.
ASU answered in the top of the fourth when Annie Lockwood came home on an Amber Freeman at-bat to close the gap at 3-1.
Katelyn Boyd moved to second all-time in doubles at ASU with her 51st double bagger coming in the fifth inning. She is three shy of the all-time record held by Kaitlin Cochran. Boyd's run during the next at-bat on a Johnson triple to deep left made it a 3-2 ballgame.
Four runs off Johnson's bat in the top of the seventh went a long way as her grand slam would allow the defense to hold on and clinch the 6-3 win. Mackenzie Popescue recorded the win in 3.2 innings worked with two strikeouts, after she came in to relieve Hillary Bach in the fourth. Popescue is now 7-1 while Inglesby drops to 18-8.
Top offensive performers for ASU included: Boyd who went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and Johnson's five RBI.
FOLLOW THE SUN DEVILS LIVE
Sunday's game will be webcasted here. Fox Sports Arizona will show a tape delay of Friday's game on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. PT on Fox Sports Arizona and Saturday at 3:30 p.m. on Fox Sports West - check TV listings for the channel. Live stats and play-by-play will be available for the Washington series on GameTracker. All links can be found in the sidebar on the Arizona State softball schedule page, which is found here.
UP NEXT:
Game three of the series is scheduled for 12 p.m. Sunday. Live stats can be found on the ASU schedule page, here and live video here.
VOTE FOR BOYD FOR THE LOWE'S SENIOR CLASS AWARD | Vote Here
Ten NCAA® softball student-athletes who excel both on and off the field were selected as finalists today for the 2012 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. Katelyn Boyd has been chosen as one of the 2012 finalist. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence - community, classroom, character and competition. Vote for Katelyn at www.seniorclassaward.com/vote.
CLOTHING DRIVE AT SOFTBALL, MAY 4-6
The weekend of May 4-6 the softball team will have a table set up at Farrington Stadium to accept donations for Helen's Hope Chest throughout the weekend as the Sun Devils take on Utah in the season home finale. Senior designated player Nikole Afusia is an intern at Helen's Hope Chest - we invite you to learn more about this event here.