TEMPE, Ariz. - Western Michigan held the defending national champion Arizona State Sun Devils scoreless through two innings but a trio of multi-run innings for ASU was the difference in WMU's 10-0 loss.

Courtney Rousseau gave WMU its first runner in scoring position with a two out double to left field, her eighth career two-bagger, but was stranded after a walk and a strikeout.

"We had opportunities early with our 3-4-5 hitters in the line up at bat with runners in scoring position but didn't get runs across the plate.  If we do that, we're the first to score and its a different ball game, who knows," commented head coach Kathy Leitke by phone. "They [ASU] are a great team and they showed it by taking advantage when their opportunities came up." 

The Sun Devils left two stranded as well in the home half of the opening inning of the 2012 season.

The Broncos led off the third with walks by Christina Pigozzi and Meredith Whitney, who started in the circle near her hometown of Scottsdale, Ariz.  Both runners advanced a base on Jennifer Tschetter's second ground out of the game but WMU's second strikeout of the game ended the threat.

ASU opened up its offense in the third with four runs on five hits.  Lead off hitter Katelyn Boyd started things with a one out home run, followed by Christina Zambrana's double to left field.  Annie Lockwood and Amber Freeman followed with back-to-back jacks to account for the quartet of runs.

Mackenzie Shepeck led off the fifth with her first collegiate base it, a single up the middle and advanced on a ground out.  Whitney, who moved to right field after the third inning, singled to center field and Rousseau drew a walk but all three stayed on base as Tara Buchanan went down swinging.

The Sun Devils would add three more runs in the bottom of the fifth and sixth to put a cap to the first game of the season for both teams, out-hitting the Broncos, 9-4.  Mackenzie Popescue earned her first win of the season, while Whitney suffered her first loss.  Whitney fanned three batters to bring her career total to 498.

Six Broncos made their collegiate debuts against ASU.  Becca Shemberger worked 2.2 innings in the circle, Emma Bogart started at second base, while Jenny Rohn, Lesy Schalk and Colleen Lynch joined Shepeck in their first game at WMU.

"Mackenzie hit some shots, Becca gave us good opportunities in the circle, Pigozzi made a pair of great defensive stops early in the game.  There were many bright spots by a lot of our underclassmen tonight," added Leitke.

Western Michigan will regroup and take the field in Tempe tomorrow night at 8:30 p.m. ET against Utah.