Softball at home stretch, set on first Pac-10 title

On Tap:

The second-ranked Sun Devil Softball squad (54-4, 16-1 Pac-10) squad will close out their Pac-10 slate and regular season this weekend, settling in to the confines of their home at Farrington Stadium to take on eighth-ranked Stanford Cardinal (45-10, 10-8 Pac-10) and the 23rd-ranked Cal Golden Bears (40-21, 7-11 Pac-10). Games are set to start on Thursday, May 8 with ASU taking on Stanford at 7 p.m. followed by a 7 p.m. game versus Cal on Friday, May 9 and a noontime game against the Bears on Saturday, May 10. All games will be played in Tempe at Farrington Stadium.

Last Time Out:

In Friday afternoon's game against the Washington Huskies, Clint Myers remained unblemished in series against the Huskies in his career as ASU went into Friday tied 1-1 in this year's series. Washington's pitching struggled early on, walking in two runs to give ASU a boost before Katie Crabb hit her fifth home run of the year in the third inning to cement a 3-0 lead that Katie Burkhart never relinquished, cruising to her 30th win of the year.

In Saturday's afternoon contest against the fourth-ranked UCLA Bruins, the road-weary Sun Devils gave in to a tough loss, with UCLA coming out firing on all cylinders, tabbing Katie Burkhart with three home runs for five runs, two by Amanda Kamekona alone. ASu put runners in scoring position in the 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 7th inning, but were unable to capitalize, falling in only their second shutout of the season.

Sunday's Sun Devil squad showed a renewed vigor as Megan Elliott threw four masterful innings as ASU took it to the Bruins early in the game with Kristen Miller lifting her 13th home run of the season to plate three in the first, which was couple with two sacrifice hits in the fourth to take home a 5-2 win from the Bruins, the first time ASU has taken the series from the Bruins on UCLA's own turf since 1980.