Softball drops sixth straight to Cal

Even with a solid outing from Megan Elliott in the circle for the Maroon and Gold, blunders and lack of offensive firepower cost the No. 6 ASU softball team again Saturday afternoon as they fell in a 4-2 loss to the 13th-ranked Cal Golden Bears. ASU is now 37-15 overall and 7-10 in conference play as Cal improves to 34-15 and 9-7 in the Pac-10.

The Bears took the claws out first as their lead-off hitter, Valerie Arioto strode to the plate for the first at-bat of the game for Cal only to take a 1-1 pitch deep to right center for a solo shot to start the game off right for the Bears. Cal struck again in the third as they rattled off three straight hits for two runs stretching the gap to 3-0 after three complete.

Kaylyn Castillo helped get ASU’s name on the board in the fourth inning as she led-off with a single up the middle. A State pulled two more walks out of Marissa Drewery who struggled for control as she loaded the bases before hitting Renee Welty to plate a run for the Sun Devils, leaving it 3-1 after four.

Cal was able to tack on some insurance in the fifth inning as they capitalized on a Sun Devil blunder to plate one more run. ASU tried to rally with their last ups in the seventh inning with two Sun Devils pulling walks before a sac fly from Katelyn Boyd plated Lesley Rogers. The rally fell short though as ASU took their sixth straight loss 4-2.

The Sun Devils will hit the Levine-Fricke Field for one more go around with the Cal Golden Bears as they take the diamond at noon in Berkeley, Calif.