May 21, 2011
TEMPE, Ariz. – The No. 1 ASU Softball team opened the 2011postseason in style Friday afternoon as they slammed a 10-0 (5) win over North Dakota State to move to 51-6 on the year while Dallas Escobedo moves to 28-3 while leading ASU into Saturday’s winner’s bracket.
The Sun Devils got the postseason party started early in the first inning after the starting hurler for the Bison, Whitney Johnson struggled for control as she was nabbed for a few illegal pitches allowing Katelyn Boyd to reach home and to third before Lesley Rogers hit a sacrifice fly to bring home the first run. Kalyn Castillo also dug in to show that she was showtime ready as she lined a solo shot to left to make it a cool 2-0 after one complete.
After settling into a groove, Dallas Escobedo shut down the mighty Bison while her offense did work in the second inning as Sam Parlich hit a solo shot to get on the board, while Lesley Rogers brought in two more with a single up the middle. Annie Lockwood dug in to bring the noise as well as she cracked a three run shot to left field which only narrowly missed an ESPN cameraman.
Lockwood’s heroics shone again in the fourth inning as she added to the history books with another solo shot to left field to move to seventh all-time in ASU single-season home runs with 15. A Mandy Urfer RBI double capped the outing at ten runs which ASU closed out early in 5 innings.
The Sun Devils return to action tomorrow in the winners bracket where they’ll face Long Beach State at 3 p.m. in Tempe at Farrington Stadium live on ESPNU.