Softball drops 2 of 3 in desert

Apr 27, 2009, 12:00 AM

As poorly as it started and ended, this past weekend likely won't be remembered as being as frustrating as it may seem for the Washington softball team. It began with a 9-2 loss to Arizona State and ended with an 11-0 beating against Arizona yesterday. But the Huskies beat the Wildcats on Saturday, taking the season series from them for the first time since 2002 before resting ace Danielle Lawrie during yesterday's thrashing. Lawrie suffered the loss Friday against the Sun Devils but shut down Arizona the next day for the second time this season, holding the Wildcats to four hits while striking out 13 in a 4-1 win. Jenna Clifton and Felecia Harris shared the pitching duties yesterday, and both were hit hard by Arizona's nation-leading offense. The Wildcats hit five home runs, edging closer to breaking the NCAA record for homers in a season. UW head coach Heather Tarr's reasoning for not throwing Lawrie yesterday was simple: Both the Huskies and Arizona are strong contenders to play in the Women's College World Series this year, and throwing Lawrie against that kind of offense two days in a row would only give Arizona an added advantage come late May. "I felt like we didn't need to show her for a third time against Arizona," Tarr said. "Basically, that's it." Lawrie would have needed at least a run to win anyway, which the Huskies weren't able to provide for Clifton and Harris. They had just three hits against UA pitcher Sarah Akamine, suffering another shutout after it looked as if they may have finally gotten their bats going. "I was disappointed in our pitch selection and our offensive approach today," Tarr said. Washington had already clinched the season series against ASU with two wins earlier this season in Seattle. Tarr said that the focus is simply on doing just that: continuing to win the series against teams in the Pac-10 and worrying about winning every single game during the postseason when it matters. "Obviously, we want to win all of the games," Tarr said. "But I think our team understands that we're trying to be better for the end versus the best right now." The Huskies (35-9, 8-6 Pac-10) will play the rest of its conference slate at home, finishing with seven straight games at Husky Softball Stadium. They'll play UCLA on Wednesday then finish their season series against Oregon and Oregon State starting Friday. The only teams the UW can't take season series from are Stanford and UCLA. But finally taking one from Arizona may alleviate that. "That hasn't happened in a while," Tarr said. "It's a good sign. I think Arizona's a well-coached team, and they're going to get better and better every time they see Danielle." Reach sports editor Christian Caple at sports@dailyuw.com.

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