Rally leads to 11-3 win over Western Kentucky for No. 4 softball

An eight-run fifth inning led by Rhiannon Baca's grand slam coupled with Megan Elliott's complete game effort helped lead the No. 4 Sun Devil Softball team to their fourth win of the season as they topped the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers 11-3 in six innings Thursday night in Tempe. The Sun Devils are now 4-1 overall headed into this weekend's Kajikawa Classic while the Hilltoppers opened their season 0-1.

WKU jumped ahead of the Sun Devils in the with a solo shot to left coupled with a costly ASU error to grab two in the first. The Sun Devils answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the inning, but the Hilltoppers defense shut them down with solid play through the fourth.

In the fifth, the Sun Devils broke it open though, with six hits, one of them a grand slam by Rhiannon Baca, for only her third hit of the season as the Sun Devils capitalized on three Hilltopper errors to put eight on the board. They added the additional two in the sixth to end the game early after Kaitlin Cochran led off with a triple to center field which was plated by Mindy Cowles. A walk to Katie Crabb led to freshman, Lesley Rogers hitting her first career triple to end it.

Starting tomorrow, the Sun Devils will host their annual 22-team Kajikawa Classic at both Farrington Stadium and Tempe Sports Complex. Games start at 9:30 a.m. and run through the day. ASU plays at 5:30 versus Western Michigan and 7:30 versus Virginia. Both games will be held at Farrington Stadium.