Offense flatlines in softball's loss to Stanford

May 01, 2009

Lack of offense spelled the story for the sixth-ranked ASU Softball team Friday night as they fell in a 4-0 loss to No. 3 Stanford which saw Stanford’s Missy Penna throw the complete-game shutout and ASU’s <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-softbl/mtt/bach_hillary00.html">H… Bach</a> taking the loss to drop her record to 22-8 on the year. The Sun Devils are now 37-14 overall and 7-9 in conference play while Stanford improves to 42-6 overall and 11-5 in the Pac-10.<separator></separator>The Cardinal took it to the scoreboard first in the game as their lead-off Alissa Habner loped a double to left center before Ashley Hansen hit an 0-1 pitch deep to right for her fourth home run of the season to take a 2-0 lead. Another RBI in the second for Hasen after a Sun Devil error gave Stanford the 3-0 lead after two complete.<separator></separator>The Sun Devils mounted a rally in the fourth with a lead-off single from <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-softbl/mtt/mapes_jessica00.html">… Mapes</a> followed with <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-softbl/mtt/boyd_katelyn00.html">K… Boyd</a> getting hit in the shoulder with no outs. Stanford ace Missy Penna settled in then to strike out the next two before a long shot from <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-softbl/mtt/donnenwirth_krista00.h… Donnenwirth</a> almost looked like it had the legs but fell shy into the center fielder’s glove to end the threat.<separator></separator>Hansen struck yet again in the fourth inning as with runners in the corners she knocked a 1-2 pitch to the left side pocket where shortstop <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-softbl/mtt/boyd_katelyn00.html">K… Boyd</a> did all she could to make Top-10 ESPN highlight, but was just short of getting the runner as a run came home with the score at 4-0 after five.<separator></separator>Stanford ace Missy Penna hit cruise control after as she finished off the complete-game shutout, tallying 11 Ks on the night and allowing only two hits on the night as she pushes her record to 30-4 overall.<separator></separator>The Sun Devils hit the diamond tomorrow as they set to face the 13th-ranked Cal Golden Bears at 1 p.m. tomorrow in Berkeley.