An ear-to-ear grin on Mindy Cowles’ face should be proof enough for Arizona State softball fans that all is well in the universe again. With three errors and a couple of strikeouts on Friday, the senior second baseman unintentionally became the poster woman for the struggles the Sun Devils endured during a tighter-than-expected win over Stony Brook in the opener of the NCAA regional.
An ear-to-ear grin on Mindy Cowles’ face should be proof enough for Arizona State softball fans that all is well in the universe again. With three errors and a couple of strikeouts on Friday, the senior second baseman unintentionally became the poster woman for the struggles the Sun Devils endured during a tighter-than-expected win over Stony Brook in the opener of the NCAA regional.
SLIDESHOW: See photos from the game
Softball coach Myers taking ASU to new heights
No more. Her 18-hour turnaround made her one of several Sun Devils who were breathing easier following a 10-0 whipping of Hawaii (40-20) in six innings Saturday afternoon at Farrington Stadium.
Arizona State will face Hawaii at 1 p.m. today for the region championship. If the Sun Devils lose, a deciding game will be played immediately following the first game.
Either way, the Sun Devils (58-5) are heavy favorites to advance to next weekend’s super regional (which they’ll also host), and left little doubt that Friday night’s narrow win against Stony Brook was an aberration.
ASU coach Clint Myers flip-flopped Cowles and Kristen Miller in the batting order, and the move made Myers look brilliant.
Cowles went 3-for-3, homered and scored twice, and the co-Pac-10 defensive player of the year was flawless in the field. She didn’t appear fazed after her individual struggles during Friday night’s squeaker against Stony Brook, and joined her teammates to brush aside the anomaly with ease.
“The best thing to do was come back and let it go,” she said.
For Hawaii, ASU was the wrong opponent at the wrong time.
Miller bounced back from a couple of rough at-bats early and turned a comfortable lead into a laugher with a three-run blast in the sixth to cap a five-run scoring spree.
Katie Burkhart threw a two-hitter for her 33rd win of the season.
The Sun Devils’ Lesley Rogers opened the game with a hit Saturday — after ASU needed four innings to get their first hit on Friday — and the rest followed.
Jackie Vasquez had three hits, plus a walk, and every Sun Devil starter either scored or drove in a run.
Cowles talked of how relaxed the team was against Stony Brook, yelling and cracking one-liners during warm-ups. But after a few innings without any success, “We started to push too hard,” she said.
Hawaii helped the host team’s cause with a wild pitch and a passed ball to score the first two runs, but the Sun Devils feasted thereafter.
Burkhart allowed both her hits in the fourth, walked two and struck out eight.
“You didn’t see panic,” Myers said. “(Friday) was not our usual performance.”
No coincidence, then, that the five seniors were called upon to rally the troops.
“We want to start performing like we want to be in Oklahoma City (for the Women’s College World Series), and we took that approach,” Cowles said. “When we’re laughing and composed, that’s when we’re playing our best.”
MISSISSIPPI ST. 8, STONY BROOK 3: The Bulldogs rallied in the fifth, scoring six runs on seven hits to eliminate the Seawolves.
HAWAII 7, MISS. ST. 4: Hawaii rebounded from its loss to ASU behind winning pitcher Katie Robinson, who also added a three-run homer.
