Softball falls 8-3 to No. 10/7 Arizona State at Judi Garman Classic

Friday, March 7

Fullerton, Calif.

12 p.m.

University of Texas

14-10

Arizona State

23-3

Texas

Arizona St.

Softball falls 8-3 to No. 10/7 Arizona State at Judi Garman Classic

03.07.2014 | Softball

Box Score

Stephens and Shireman have three-hit games; Davis strikes out eight in relief appearance

Box Score (PDF) | Twitter

FULLERTON, Calif. – In second day action of the Judy Garman Classic, Texas Softball was handed an 8-3 loss from No. 10/7 Arizona State on Friday morning. Sophomores Lindsey Stephens and Erin Shireman both went 3-for-4 to lead the offense, while freshman LHP Tiarra Davis was a presence in the circle, as she dominated through her four-and-two-thirds of relief work.

The Sun Devils (23-3) got on the board in the first inning with a pair of runs on Haley Steele's single up the middle. UT (14-10) would narrow the gap to a one-run contest when senior Mandy Ogle drove in sophomore Holly Kern from third base with a base hit up the middle. Kern got the rally started with a leadoff double and then was pushed over when Shireman reached on a throwing error by ASU shortstop Cheyenne Coyle.

ASU quickly recouped its two-run cushion when it batted in the home half of the second inning. With the bases loaded, Chelsea Gonzales singled to put the Sun Devils up, 3-1, before Amber Freeman delivered with a grand slam to break the game wide open at that point to put ASU ahead, 7-1.

Freeman would later extend the Sun Devil's lead to seven runs when she ripped a leadoff solo home run off of Davis in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Junior Gabby Smith started in the circle for the Longhorns on Friday. She departed after walking Steele following the grand slam. Smith was charged with six of the seven runs, which came on five hits and three walks.

Davis, who was fresh off of Thursday night's complete game win, took over and was nearly unhittable, as she attacked and hit her intended corners with her curve ball. Davis struck out eight and walked zero Sun Devils, while allowing only two hits and the one run to Freeman .

UT showed no signs of letting up easy, as it plated two runs in the seventh inning. Shireman knocked sophomore Rachel Scott into score with a base hit before freshman Kelli Hanzel tapped another single up the middle to score Kern.

Texas outhit Arizona State 12-7, but left 13 runners on base. ASU's Mackenzie Popescue threw 152 pitches in a complete game effort to improve to 12-1.

With the loss, Texas drops to 14-10 on the season and will now set its focus on a pair of games against Top 10 opponents on Saturday. The Longhorns will take on No. 5/4 Michigan at 10:00 a.m. PT/ Noon CT and No. 6/6 Washington in the nightcap at 8:00 p.m. PT/ 10:00 p.m. CT.

POSTGAME NOTES

- With Friday's loss, Texas' season-long six-game winning streak comes to an end.

- The Longhorns are now 3-4 against nationally ranked opponents this season. UT is 175-177-1, including a 38-26 mark since the current seniors arrived on campus for the 2011 season.

- The all-time series with Arizona State is now at a deadlock with each school winning seven of the 14 contests.

- Sophomore Lindsey Stephens is now on a 15-game hitting streak, tying her with Amber Hall (May 25, 2003-Feb. 25, 2004) for the fourth longest streak in school history.

- Dating back to the final game of last season, Stephens has reached base in 25-consecutive games, which ties Loryn Johnson (March 13-April 25, 2009) for the third longest streak in program history.

- Sophomore Erin Shireman's 3-for-4 day marked her fourth multi-hit game of the season and tied her career high for total hits in a game. She has now had four three-hit games while at UT.

- Junior Gabby Smith was dubbed with the loss, dropping her to 8-2 on the season.