Finally, the streak is over.
After seven straight games of being shut out by its opponent, the ASU softball team rebounded for a 7-2 victory over No. 16 Oregon State on Sunday in Corvallis, Ore. The seven runs were more than the Sun Devils (31-23, 1-9 Pac-10) had scored in their first nine games of conference play.
ASU started the scoring in the first inning, as senior center fielder Kristin Farber scored an unearned run.
The Sun Devils then exploded for six more runs in the second, highlighted by a grand slam from junior left fielder Valerie Sevilla. The home run moved Sevilla into sole possession of the team's home run lead at 13, and two behind senior third baseman Phelan Wright's single-season record, set last year.
The Beavers got a run back in the bottom of the inning on a leadoff home run from Lisa Allen and trimmed the lead to five on a sacrifice fly in the sixth. However, sophomore Ashley Werschky shut down OSU the rest of the way for the complete game victory.
The win moves the Sun Devils back to within one game of the Beavers for seventh place in the Pac-10.
ASU had a chance to pull even with OSU in the standings on Saturday, but the Beavers scored six runs in the first five innings and shut down the Sun Devil offense to come away with a 6-0 win.
OSU opened up the scoring in the first inning on an RBI single from Allen off of ASU sophomore Desiree Serrano. The Beavers scored a run in the third inning on a passed ball and broke the game open with four more runs in the fifth.
Farber stole her 31st base of the year in the game following a single, tying her with Lisa Dacquisto for most stolen bases in a season in school history.
Farber's hit was one of just three the Sun Devils could muster in the game.
ASU had a golden opportunity to steal a road win on Friday against No. 13 Oregon, but a costly error in the second inning made for the only score during a 1-0 loss.
After a two-out double by Kayleen Hudson, senior first baseman Kari Reidhead made an error on a Kristi Leiter hit ball that allowed Hudson to score.
The pitchers took over from that point on, as Werschky and the Ducks' Ani Nyhus allowed just five hits combined. Nyhus struck out 11 batters in the game for her seventh shutout this year and third in conference play.
Werschky allowed just two earned runs in 14 innings pitched over the weekend but ended up with a 1-1 record.
With a 1-2 weekend road trip, ASU falls to eight games behind conference leader UA. However, the win over a ranked team will help ASU's chances for a postseason berth.
Reach the reporter at Kyle.Odegard@asu.edu.
