Cochran's grand slam powers softball over Cal

Powered by a grand slam from Kaitlin Cochran, the sixth-ranked ASU Softball team got back to form Sunday afternoon as they topped the 13th-ranked Cal Golden Bears 7-3 at Levine-Fricke Field in Berkeley. Hillary Bach took the win for her 23rd on the season as ASU improves to 38-15 and 8-10 in conference play while Cal drops to 34-16 and 9-8 in the Pac-10.

A State finally got back on track in the first inning with their offense as they were able to grab a run as they took advantage of a throwing error by the Cal catcher to plate Kaitlin Cochran. Cal did one better in the bottom half of the first though as an RBI single from Elia Reid plated one as well as seeing another run come home off a Sun Devil blunder in right field to give Cal the 2-1 lead after one.

A State was silent until the sixth inning when they decided to get the party started with Krista Donnenwirth's single to right followed with a single to right center to put two on. A ground out to advance the runners set up Talor Haro's heroics as she nailed a single up the middle to take two back and the lead. The sassy Sun Devils weren't done yet though as Kaitlin Cochran strode up to the plate with bases loaded and sent the first pitch she saw back over the Bay with a grand slam to right center.

Cal proved their feistiness in the bottom of the inning though, adding a run off a walk and a double to left center by Renee Sevilla to cut ASU's lead to 7-3. Hillary Bach buckled down after the run to shut down the Cal offense through the rest of the outing to push her record to 23-8 on the year.

The Sun Devils will head to the Oregon schools next weekend as they enter the final week of regular season play. They'll face Oregon State in Corvallis on Thursday, May 7 before facing the Oregon Ducks on Friday and Saturday May 8 and 9 in Eugene.