Florida Atlantic 1 No. 6 seed

vs.

Arizona State 2 No. 3 seed

Score by Innings		1	2	3		4	5	6		7		R	H	E
Florida Atlantic (49-19)		0	0	0		0	0	0		1		1	3	1
Arizona State (40-25)		1	0	0		0	0	1		x		2	5	0

Boxscore and Play-By-Play

Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Alumni Field)
Event: NCAA Regional 6 Softball Championship (Game 7)
Result: Arizona State 2, Florida Atlantic 1
Records: ASU (40-25); FAU (49-19)
Next FAU Game: Saturday, May 22 -- vs. Nebraska-Notre Dame winner, 5:15 p.m.
Next ASU Game: Sunday, May 23 -- Regional championship game, 11 a.m.

Sun Devils Edge Owls, Advance to Regional Title Game

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The Arizona State Sun Devils, powered by the pitching of freshman Kirsten Voak, edged the Florida Atlantic Owls 2-1 to move into the championship game of the NCAA Softball Regional 6 at Alumni Field. Voak (23-13) held the Owls to just three hits as she earned her third win of the weekend with a 13-strikeout, complete-game performance.

With the win, third-seeded Arizona State (40-25) moved into the championship game, rescheduled from 1 p.m. to 11 a.m. Sunday (May 23). Florida Atlantic (49-19), the No. 6 seed in the regional, will play the winner of the Nebraska-Notre Dame game at 5:15 p.m. today (May 22) for the right to face ASU tomorrow. The regional winner will advance to the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City next week (May 27-31).

After the start of the game was delayed an hour and 20 minutes by rain, Arizona State was only able to scrap out two runs against Florida Atlantic pitcher Nicole Myers, also making her third start of the tournament. In the first inning, the Sun Devils drew a one-out walk and got singles by Erica Beach and Voak to load the bases before a two-out hit-by-pitch forced in the first run. The Sun Devils did not add to their lead until the sixth inning, when they loaded the bases on two walks and an error. Pinch hitter Jennifer Gall, who drove in the sole run in Friday's win over Nebraska, came through with another pinch-hit RBI on a single to leftfield.

Florida Atlantic did not go down quietly in the seventh inning as Sherri Pla roped a one-out home run into the leftfield bullpen to cut the Owl deficit to 2-1. The home run was the first run scored against Voak in 16 innings, extending back to the seventh inning of ASU's nine-inning win over Central Michigan on Thursday (May 20). Florida Atlantic's next hitter, Jackie Catanese, drove the ball deep to centerfield, but her bid for the game-tying home run died on the warning track for the second out of the inning, and Voak was able to induce the next batter into a groundout to end the game.

Q U O T E S

Arizona State Head Coach Linda Wells
"Well, it was another nice outing for (Kirsten) Voak, and I was pleased we had an insurance run going into the seventh inning. We just kept at it. There were several innings when (Voak) just had them handled, and she needed to because they had gotten a runner on. Those turned into offensive threats she was able to shut down early."

On the lack of runs through the tournament so far ... "Our defense and pitching are doing a good job, but I would appreciate a few more runs. I think we had a few opportunities to manufacture a few runs, and I am a little concerned that our offense is playing games and only manufacturing one or two runs. I also think it is the mark of a good team to win the 1-0 games."

Arizona State pitcher Kirsten Voak
On pitching with an early lead ... "It's always a lot easier, a lot less pressure when your team puts some runs up for you early, especially in the early innings. It gets the other team down a little bit and puts you up there mentally."

Florida Atlantic Head Coach Joan Joyce
"We played a little bit tight today, and we didn't make them play. We had opportunities but did not take advantage of them. I had the right people in scoring position each time to get the run in on a base hit, but we didn't execute. Against a team like Arizona State, you have to take advantage when you have opportunities, which we didn't do. Nikki (Myers) pitched a good game. We hung in there until the last inning."

On the pitching of ASU's Kirsten Voak ... "(Voak) threw a very good game. She had us biting on that big rise ball, and we couldn't stay off of it. We didn't take advantage of her when she got two strikes. She would then just come at us with the high stuff."

On where they stand at this point ... "I think today our inexperience at being at this competition probably kicked in a little bit, but I can tell you this, we're not done yet. We'll be back in that next game. This is what the big leagues is all about."

Florida Atlantic Pitcher Nicole Myers
On what makes ASU's Kirsten Voak so hard to hit ... "Everybody was swinging at her high stuff. It's obviously her strikeout pitch. If we would have worked her better, she would have been forced bring us a good pitch. We just weren't patient enough up there and didn't work her."

N O T E S

• Today's win was the 40th of the season for the Sun Devils, the most for ASU since the 1991 season.

• All three of Arizona State's wins at this year's regional have been by one run.

• Today was the 11th time this season Kirsten Voak has recorded 10 or more strikeouts. She now has 299 strikeouts this season. In the three regional games, Voak has struck out eight of the nine batters faced in the first inning. In 23 innings of regional action, Voak has 37 strikeouts while allowing just nine hits, zero walks and one earned run for a 0.30 earned run average.

• Florida Atlantic has had a home run in each of the three regional games this year.

Last updated: Sunday, 23-May-1999 12:13:36 EDT