By
Brett Erickson
Arizona Daily Wildcat
TEMPE-The Arizona softball team moved into the top spot in the USA Today/NFCA poll yesterday morning.
Last night at Farrington Stadium in Tempe, the Wildcats showed why.
Arizona (47-4 overall, 9-2 Pacific 10 Conference) used two of its trademark features - power and dominant pitching - to defeat Arizona State 5-0 to sweep the season series.
After struggling for the first five innings, Arizona blew open the game in the sixth, getting five runs on five hits to chase ASU starter Erica Beach from the game.
Senior Nicole Giordano got things started for the Wildcats with a lead-off single off the shortstop's glove. With one out, freshman Leneah Manuma delivered a two-run homer to center field to break open a scoreless tie.
"It was just looking to put a good swing on the pitch, because I felt like I just missed in my previous at bat," Manuma said.
Junior Jennie Finch and senior Lindsey Collins followed with a single and a double, respectively, putting two runners in scoring position with one out.
Freshman Mackenzie Vandergeest delivered with a towering fly ball that just stayed inside the fair pole in left field, giving Arizona its final three runs in the 5-0 victory.
"When you have Finch on the mound with five runs, I feel pretty comfortable," UA head coach Mike Candrea said.
The long balls were the 16th on the season for Manuma and Vandergeest, tying them with senior Toni Mascarenas for the team lead. Arizona now has an NCAA-record 103 homers on the season.
Finch (21-0) continued her dominance against Pac-10 opponents, striking out six ASU (30-15, 5-7) batters while allowing four hits. She extended her streak of not allowing an earned run in a conference game to 48 straight innings.
"My goal is to get my team back in there and get some runs," she said.
Neither team was able to muster much offense through the first four innings. The Wildcats, who replaced UCLA as the top-ranked team in the nation yesterday, got two runners on in the first inning courtesy of singles by Giordano and Mascarenas.
Manuma and Finch, though, struck out to end the inning, and the Wildcats went silent for the next four innings as Beach kept them guessing by varying her speeds all night.
By the sixth inning, all of the UA hitters had recorded two at-bats and knew what to expect from Beach.
"They're good at that," Candrea said. "For the most part, a lot of times we can look a little silly the first time around, and then all of a sudden the second time around, we start hitting the ball a little bit."
Arizona State, meanwhile, did not advance a runner past first base all night, partly because of solid defense on Arizona's behalf.
With two outs and a runner on first in the fourth, ASU's Kirsten Voak hit a pop fly that appeared as if it would fall harmlessly into foul territory behind third base. Mascarenas, though, made an over-the-shoulder running catch to retire Voak and squash any potential Sun Devil threat.
Last night's game was much less dramatic than the two-game series in Tucson April 13-14. In those games, the Wildcats needed extra-inning, walk-off home runs to win both games.
Arizona State has now lost six straight Pac-10 games after getting off to a conference-best 5-1 start in Pac-10 play. UA has now won eight straight games, including six consecutive conference contests.
The Wildcats return to action tomorrow night in a doubleheader against Oregon State. The latter game is a make-up of a rainout earlier this season.
Arizona also faces Oregon Saturday and Sunday.
