Arizona’s pitching patchwork can’t prevent Arizona State’s sweep
Saturday, April 23rd, 2011
The Sun Devils greet outfielder Annie Lockwood after she hit a three-run homer in the fifth inning to give ASU a 6-1 lead.
Photo by Mark Evans, TucsonCitizen.com.
As the Arizona State softball team huddled on the field for its postgame talk, a small group of Sun Devils fans began chanting from beyond the bullpen.
“Sweep! Sweep! Sweep!”
That’s what it was Saturday as Arizona State completed the three-game sweep over Arizona with an 8-3 victory at Hillenbrand Stadium against the strangest set of pitchers Wildcats coach Mike Candrea has ever used in 26 years at the school.
Second-ranked ASU took advantage of pitching-thin Arizona, getting three-run homers from Krista Donnenwirth and Annie Lockwood. Arizona State won the previous two games with the help of grand slams in the seventh inning.
“I tell you what, it was a great series,” said ASU coach Clint Myers. “You had two very good programs playing. … They have a great tradition and we have not been very successful here in the past.”
Which is a just a teeny, tiny understatement.
