Nebraska Drops 6-3 Decision to Arizona State

Fullerton, Calif. - A five-run second inning was enough to propel No. 23 Arizona State to a 6-3 victory over 20th-ranked Nebraska in the final game of pool play at the Kia Klassic in Fullerton, Calif. With the three-run victory, ASU (29-13) edged Nebraska (18-10) in the run differential tie breaker to earn the No. 1 seed in Pool A. The Huskers finished as the second seed.

Sophomore right-hander Summer Tobias (4-5) took the loss for NU, allowing two earned runs on 10 hits in a complete-game effort. Desiree Serrano (14-4) earned the win for the Sun Devils, limiting the Huskers to no earned runs on seven hits.

Offensively, NU was led by senior Liz Lawhorn’s 2-for-3 performance. Lawhorn was the only Husker to record more than one hits, while sophomore Jessica Yoachim had the only RBI for Nebraska.

Nebraska took the lead in the top of the second, scoring two runs. Freshman Jamie Waldecker drew a one-out walk and wound up on second after senior Liz Lawhorn’s two-out single. Freshman Devin Porter reached safely when the third baseman couldn’t handle her grounder. Waldecker scored on the play to put the Huskers up 1-0. Nebraska brought another runner home when sophomore Jessica Yoachim reached safely on a bunt to score Lawhorn, who was on third following the error on Porter’s ground ball.

Arizona State struck back in the bottom half of the inning, taking the lead for good. The first two Sun Devils reached on a single and an error. Following a double steal, ASU’s Kim Zadrozny hit a sacrifice fly to left field to score Trisha Tornberg. The Sun Devils tied the game when pinch hitter Keri Pulcifer singled to score Kristin Crenshaw.

Following the second out of the inning, Kristin Farber singled. Farber wound up on second and Jen McCard scored after an error on NU’s Devin Porter. Leading 3-2, Arizona State increased its lead with a two-out, two-run home run by Phelan Wright.

Nebraska scored again in the sixth to cut the lead to 5-3. In the inning, the first two Husker hitters were retired before NU began a two-out rally. Senior Brittney Yolo got things started with a single and Lawhorn followed with another single. Porter then sent a grounder to third that got past ASU’s Phelan Wright, allowing Yolo to score to close the gap to two.

The Sun Devils answered right back in the bottom of the sixth, scoring on a two-out single by the No. 9 hitter, Jen McCard. McCard’s run proved to be the difference in Arizona State receiving the No. 1 seed from Pool A.

NU returns to action tomorrow at 11 a.m. (CST) in the first round of bracket play against Big 12 rival and seventh-ranked Oklahoma.