Two losses weren’t exactly what the No. 6 Sun Devil (38-15, 8-10 Pac-10) softball team was hoping would come from its road trip to California.

The team had already lost four straight games heading into the weekend.

But after moving the losing streak to six to start the road trip, the Sun Devils got back into the win column with a 7-3 win over Cal on Sunday.

“At times, our confidence got low because we were second guessing ourselves and trying too hard,” freshman pitcher Hillary Bach said. “We made things more complicated than they needed to be, but when we settled down and finally started having fun again, it was very easy.”

Silent until the sixth inning, the Sun Devils showed that they were just as hungry as they said they were going into the weekend, and the team may have gotten exactly what it needed as it nears the end of
regular-season play.

“We feel ecstatic right now, because we really wanted to break that losing streak,” senior outfielder Kaitlin Cochran said. “It was really important for us to get the win today, because it’s the Pac-10 and we want to make sure we have a winning record coming out of Pac-10.”

Sunday’s rally started with sophomore infielder Krista Donnenwirth’s single.

One more single put two runners on and allowed freshman outfielder Taylor Haro to smack a single up the middle and load the bases.

“Coach kind of prepared me before the game — he told me to be ready,” she said. “I’ve sat a lot lately, so I was mentally prepared before I got in the game, and I knew if I had the opportunity to get in the game that I had to do my job.”

Then came Cochran, who sent the first pitch she saw in her sixth-inning at-bat over the right-center wall for a grand slam, scoring four and giving the Sun Devils a 7-2 lead over the Golden Bears.

“I just wanted to put a good swing on the ball,” Cochran said. “I knew we were only up by one at that point, and I just wanted to help my team out. That was my plan: to have a quality at bat.”

Cal came back in the next inning to score one, but Bach was able to shut down the Golden Bear offense through the rest of the inning and seal the deal for the Sun Devils, as she claimed her 23rd win of the season.

The win puts the Sun Devils back en route to playing their best softball.

“We’re working our way up,” Cochran said. “We’re trying to get better and better each weekend. We had a little slide there for awhile, but I think we’re getting back up on the right track. We’re on our way to our best softball.”

The win comes after two losses on the weekend — to Cal on Saturday and Stanford on Friday — and the Sun Devils will head into the end of their regular season play next weekend on the road against Oregon and
Oregon State.

Reach the reporter at emiley.darling@asu.edu.