Arizona State Powers Past Nebraska

Tempe, Ariz. ? A young Nebraska softball team starting six freshmen was no match for a veteran ArizonaState squad, as the fifth-ranked Sun Devils ran past the Huskers, 9-0 in five innings Saturday night at Farrington Stadium.

 

Arizona State (8-1), which has advanced to each of the past two Women’s College World Series, has not been a kind Kajikawa Classic host, as the Sun Devils have posted run-rule victories over their last three opponents. For Nebraska, the five-inning loss marked its first run-rule setback since the opening game of the 2004 season against top-ranked UCLA. Before Saturday’s loss, NU had gone 235 consecutive games without suffering a run-rule defeat, the third-longest streak in the nation among all BCS programs.

 

The Sun Devil offense pounded out nine hits, including two home runs. That was more than enough support for returning Pac-10 Conference Pitcher of the Year Katie Burkhart, who earned the victory to improve to 3-1 on the season. A dominant lefty, Burkhart tossed a one-hit shutout, while striking out 12 against a Nebraska lineup that featured six left-handed hitters.

 

Freshman Tori Tyson (1-1) took the loss for the Huskers, which fell to 1-2 on the young season. In four innings of work, Tyson surrendered nine runs (eight earned) on nine hits, while walking five.

 

Tyson, making just her second career start, showed some nerves early throwing eight straight balls to walk the first two Sun Devils she faced. Two-time first-team All-American Kaitlin Cochran then stepped to the plate and hit a seeing-eye single up the middle to score Jessica Mapes with the game’s first run. Tyson was able to work around Cochran’s single and three walks to escape the first inning without any further damage.

 

A Nebraska defense that had been perfect through its first two games committed three errors in the bottom of the second inning as ArizonaState built its lead to 3-0, despite recording only two singles in the inning.

 

The Sun Devils went in front 5-0 in the bottom of the third on a two-run home run from Kristen Miller.

 

After Burkhart struck out the side in each of the first three innings, Nebraska began to make better contact the second time through the order, highlighted by back-to-back fly outs to the wall by freshman Julie Brechtel and junior Amanda Duran. Duran also recorded Nebraska's lone hit in the game, a one-out single in the top of the second.

 

While the Huskers had a pair of drives fall just short of leaving the park, Krista Donnenwirth made sure her towering shot left the park, as she cleared the bases with a grand slam home run that extended the ASU lead to 9-0 in the bottom of the fourth.

 

 

The Huskers will look to immediately bounce back from this loss as they host Memphis at approximately 9:05 p.m. (Central). Free audio and live stats are available on Huskers.com.

Nebraska Softball Nebraska at #5 Arizona State Feb 16, 2008 at Tempe, Ariz. (Farrington Stadium)

Nebraska 0 (1-2)

Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB ------------------------------------------------------ Mullin, Meghan cf........ 1 0 0 0 0 1 3 1 0 Rutherford, Darcy lf..... 2 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 Carwile, Crystal 1b...... 2 0 0 0 0 2 4 0 1 Guile, Ashley dp......... 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 Brechtel, Julie 2b....... 2 0 0 0 0 1 2 1 0 Duran, Amanda c.......... 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Long, Haley rf........... 2 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 Foland, Heidi ss......... 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 1 Pascale, Brittany ph.... 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Hughes, Abby 3b.......... 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 Linke, Kelli ph......... 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Tyson, Tori p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Totals................... 17 0 1 0 0 12 12 5 3

Arizona State 9 (8-1)

Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB ------------------------------------------------------ Mapes, Jessica lf........ 2 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 Rogers, Lesley rf........ 1 1 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 Cochran, Kaitlin cf...... 3 1 2 1 0 0 1 0 1 Donnenwirth, Krista 3b... 3 1 1 4 0 0 0 0 0 Welty, Renee dp.......... 2 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 Miller, Kristen c........ 3 1 1 2 0 0 12 0 2 Cowles, Mindy 2b......... 2 1 2 0 1 0 0 1 0 Crabb, Katie 1b.......... 3 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 Baca, Rhiannon ss........ 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Burkhart, Katie p........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals................... 21 9 9 8 5 0 15 1 5

Score by Innings R H E -------------------------------------- Nebraska............ 000 00 - 0 1 3 Arizona State....... 122 4X - 9 9 2 --------------------------------------

E - Mullin(1); Brechtel(1); Foland(1); Donnenwirth 2. LOB - Huskers 3; Sun Devils 5. HR - Donnenwirth; Miller. HBP - Mullin. SB - Mullin(2); Cowles.

Nebraska IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP -------------------------------------------------- Tyson, Tori......... 4.0 9 9 8 5 0 21 26 82

Arizona State IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP -------------------------------------------------- Burkhart, Katie..... 5.0 1 0 0 0 12 17 18 89

Win - Burkhart (3-1). Loss - Tyson (1-1). Save - None. WP - Tyson(2). HBP - by Burkhart (Mullin). Pitches/strikes: Tyson 82/37; Burkhart 89/59. Umpires - Start: Time: 1:34 Attendance: 662 Game: livegame