Junior infielder Katie Crabb knew exactly what to expect in her first at bat against Washington’s star pitcher Danielle Lawrie.

She and the rest of the Sun Devil (32-7, 4-2 Pac-10) softball team had spent the week watching tapes and preparing for the weekend ahead.

Initially, it paid off.

Crabb hit a home run in her first at bat of the game on Saturday against the Huskies.

But then everything changed.

“[Lawrie] completely changed how she was throwing to me after my first up,” Crabb said. “I had to adjust to her and [Sunday] was the same thing. We all noticed a difference in how she was throwing, and I think that was attributed to our preparation in practice all week.”

While Lawrie kept Sun Devil hitters guessing on Saturday, the Husky offense knocked around junior pitcher Megan Elliot to the tune of six earned runs in two innings in an 11-3 UW win.

The Sun Devils’ 3-2 loss on Sunday was a battle of the pitchers and a learning experience for Sun Devil freshman hurler Hillary Bach.

“I never like to lose, but it motivates me because I’m playing some of the best competition in the nation,” she said. “If I can keep up against them, then we can beat anybody. We did well, I’m happy with how it went.”

The Sun Devils started the road trip strong on Friday with a 5-0 win against No. 5 UCLA.

Bach threw her second career no-hitter against the Bruins to help lead ASU to victory, and was also solid in her action against UW on Sunday.

“I’m proud of our team,” she said. “I think we played well this weekend, and the game [Sunday] could have easily gone either way. [UW is] a great team. We played great defense, had some beautiful catches in the outfield and we keep getting better every time out. We showed some real potential. We made great steps that will help us beat them when it counts.”

The Sun Devils will start off this week with a newfound confidence and a double header against UNLV on Tuesday before facing in-state rival UA on Friday.

“Danielle [Lawrie] is one of the best pitchers in the nation and she had a pretty hard time with us so that gave us a lot of confidence,” Crabb said. “It’s pretty easy to get pumped up for games against UA. We’re going to have a good week of practice and learn from the games against UNLV on Tuesday.”

Reach the reporter at emiley.darling@asu.edu