FULLERTON, Calif. -- After holding opponents to 1.02 earned runs a game and a .168 batting average through the season's first 32 games, it might appear that the No. 21 ASU softball team's pitching staff had it all.
It doesn't have Cat Osterman.
The junior left-hander -- a member of the gold-medal winning U.S. Olympic team -- struck out 21 of the 25 ASU batters she faced and allowed two Sun Devil hits in ASU's 1-0 loss to No. 5 Texas in the quarterfinal of the Kia Klassic on Saturday.
"I thought it was a good experience to see a pitcher like Osterman," ASU coach Linda Wells said. "Even though this was a tough loss, it wasn't a bad loss. We competed well and we competed hard. Any game we go out and play that well, I'm going to be happy win or lose."
In five innings in the circle, ASU freshman left-hander Katie Burkhart kept Texas off the scoreboard, allowing seven hits. After allowing three singles to open the game, Burkhart clamped down getting a strikeout and a double play to end the inning.
Again with the bases loaded and no outs in the sixth, ASU junior right-hander Desiree Serrano thwarted another Texas threat with two strikeouts and a pop up to right field.
Serrano (10-2) did not allow a hit in her two and two-thirds innings of relief, but picked up the loss when Texas junior second baseman Chez Sievers scored an unearned run on a groundout to end the extra inning.
Serrano said the team would grow from the loss.
"I think we would have had them with just a little bit more, but it just didn't go our way," she said. "I'm really happy with the team's performance. I'm really happy with the way we're playing right now."
Sophomore catcher Heidi Knabe said that the team showed heart in the defeat.
"It was a tough loss, but we're looking at it as a positive," she said. "We put up a great game. We played awesome on defense. Everybody realizes their potential right now and knows how far we can go and how good of a team we are. Everyone's starting to believe."
ASU went 2-2 during the tournament, which featured many of the nation's top teams. The Sun Devils advanced to the championship bracket of the tournament by going 2-1 in pool play, beating Syracuse 4-0 and No. 7 Louisiana-Lafayette 5-1, while losing to No. 8 Oklahoma 6-1.
ASU begins conference play hosting No. 2 California on April 1 at 7 p.m. at Farrington Stadium.
Reach the reporter at jeremy.a.cluff@asu.edu.
