Valley of the Sun Claims another Husky victim

What is it with Washington teams and playing in the state of Arizona?

Arizona State's Giselle "G" Juarez (8-1) fired a 3-hit complete game shutout, sending the Huskies (28-1, 0-1 Pac-12) to their first loss of the season. She fanned 11 Huskies, more than tripling UW's average of 3.5 strikeouts per game.

Freshman first baseman Danielle Gibson came up with the only run-scoring play of the day, hitting a 2-run double off the top of the wall in the first inning.

Taylor Van Zee led off the game with a single, but was stranded at 2nd after a bunt and two strikeouts. The only two other hits for the Huskies came in the 5th, when Kelly Burdick and Van Zee had back-to-back 2-out singles. But on single from Van Zee, Burdick tried to advance first to third and was thrown out on a great throw from right fielder Kindra Hackbarth to end the inning.

Arizona State (23-3, 1-0) took advantage of wildness from Gabbie Plain (9-1) early on for their two runs. After Plain walked both K Hackbarth and Gortarez to open B1, Morgan Howe singled to left-center. Hackbarth tried to score but was thrown out on a laser from Burdick to keep it scoreless for the moment. Plain got Nicole Chilson to fly out to Burdick in deep right-center for the second out, but then Gibson ripped one over DePonte's head for the 2-run double.

Plain really settled down after a wild first. The only time she was threatened in her final 5 innings of work was in the fourth. Gibson led off with another single, then moved to second on a groundout. Plain induced a groundout to Van Zee on a nifty pick near the bag for the second out.

On an 0-1 pitch, ASU catcher Maddi Hackbarth absolutely unloaded on Plain's delivery, and it looked like it would give the Devils a 4-0 lead. But she was just a hair early, as it went a few feet foul down the line in left. She would foul out later in the at-bat to end the threat.

The Huskies and Sun Devils meet at 2 PM Pacific both Sunday and Monday to finish the series.