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38-game winning streak snapped by ASU

Softball team drops opener in Tempe, comes back with win

An impressive streak came to an end last weekend in Tempe, but the Arizona softball team wasted little time starting a new one.

After falling 3-1 to No. 4 Arizona State on Friday, the second-ranked Wildcats (45-7 overall, 8-4 Pacific 10 Conference) got a strong pitching performance from junior Becky Lemke Saturday night as UA defeated ASU, 3-0.

Friday's loss broke a streak of 38 straight victories against the Sun Devils (38-11 overall, 6-6 in Pac-10)

"Of course its a big deal," UA senior second baseman Katie Swan said about the streak. "They say records are meant to be broken, but now we'll start our own winning streak."

Arizona State sophomore Kirsten Voak, who was the pitcher of record in both games, downplayed their losing streak to Arizona.

"I don't think it was that big of an issue," she said.

For Arizona, two two-out rallies provided all the scoring on Saturday. In the fifth inning, junior shortstop Allison Andrade singled home junior catcher Lindsey Collins with two outs in the inning.

Collins began the inning with a double to right field, and Andrade delivered the game's first RBI after sophomore first baseman Jennie Finch struck out and senior Chrissy Gil flied out to left.

The game remained tied until the top of the seventh, when Gil hit a two-run homer with two outs.

Lemke struck out 10 Sun Devils and allowed only three hits as she improved her record to 24-5 on the season.

Voak (26-5) took the loss for ASU.

On Friday night, Voak again was in the circle, as she limited the Wildcats to four hits while striking out seven batters and walking none.

All of Arizona State's runs came off the bat of senior right fielder Jamie Hlebechuk, who slugged a three-run home run in the fourth inning. Hlebechuk's hit also came with two outs, as Finch retired the first two batters she faced in the inning.

Finch (21-2) gave up five hits in the loss.

"ASU is a great team," Swan said, adding that the loss was a wake-up call for Arizona.

Voak said the Sun Devils respect both UA pitchers, but prefer to face Finch because she leaves fastballs "above the belt" more often than Lemke.

"Jennie Finch's pitching style we handle better than Lemke's," Voak said.

The Wildcats had opportunities to get on the scoreboard early in the game, after loading the bases in the first two innings, but they couldn't push home a run. The lone UA run came in the top of the seventh, when Collins hit a one-out home run off of Voak.

"We had opportunities to score, but they've got a great pitcher," Swan said.

Arizona hit the ball hard both days, but still could manage only eight hits in the two games.

"A key hit, here or there, and the game could have gone either way," Voak said.