LOS ANGELES – The San Diego State softball team began its 15th NCAA Tournament appearance on Friday night against Arizona State at Easton Stadium on the campus of UCLA. Seniors Bella Espinoza and Cali Decker worked together to produce a run against the Sun Devil’s ace Kenzie Brown in the top of the first before ASU tied the game in the bottom of the second by manufacturing a run of its own with a sacrifice bunt and a sacrifice fly. After the Sun Devils took the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning, Uribe and Gabriella Terrones hit back-to-back homers in the seventh before Cece Cellura finished off Arizona State to complete a 3-2 comeback win.
The Aztecs (38-17) were down to their last three outs in the seventh. Arizona State’s (35-20) pitcher, Brown, got a quick groundout, moving to two outs away from a complete game win. Uribe stepped up to the plate and hammered the first pitch she saw over the wall in right center field to tie the game at two. Stacey Nuveman Deniz went to her bench, sending Terrones to the plate for Quinn Waiki. Four pitches later, Terrones launched a solo homer of her own to center, putting the Aztecs back on top 3-2. Pinch hitter Olivia Gigante came through with a single before Jazmin Williams came back into the game and stole second. Now, the tables were flipped, and Cellura was three outs from sending the Aztecs into the winners’ bracket. Kelsey Hall led off with a single down the left field line, but she tried to stretch it into a double. However, she underestimated the arm of Espinoza, who skipped the cutoff and threw directly to second base, gunning down Hall. After a groundout, Ayden Allen doubled to bring the winning run to the plate. Cellura bounced back by striking out Nehanda Lewis swinging to wrap up the game.
As she has so many times this season, Espinoza led off the game with a single. She stole second base to move into scoring position for Decker, who drove her in with a single to left with Espinoza sliding around the tag to put the Aztecs on the board first. Grace Uribe sat down the Arizona State side in order in the bottom of the inning. She had to make a tough play on a comebacker for the second out and Julie Holcomb ran down a ball in the left center field gap to end the inning.
In the bottom of the second, ASU’s Tanya Windle led off with a double down the left field line before former Aztec AJ Murphy bunted her to third base with one out. She scored on a sacrifice fly to tie the game.
Uribe threw her second perfect inning of the night in the third, including her first strikeout when Lewis tried to check swing with two strikes but went around.
Angie Yellen recorded the third hit of the night for the Aztecs in the fourth inning when she legged out an infield single. The Mountain West Tournament MVP Cece Cellura took over in the bottom of the inning and continued the Aztecs’ success in the circle with a seven-pitch perfect inning that started with Shannon Cunningham making a diving stop on a ground ball before another dive to beat the hitter to the bag at first.
In the fifth, Cellura got two quick outs before the Sun Devils threatened with a single and a double back-to-back. Cellura induced a groundout to third to end the inning with the tie still intact.
Holcomb appeared to have a one-out walk in the sixth and made it all the way down to first base before third base umpire Mike Bartling signaled that she went around for strike three. The next hitter was Decker, who walked and was replaced at first base by Mia Rodriguez. However, she was left stranded there. Cellura sat down the first two hitters of the ASU half of the inning on quick groundouts. Ashleigh Mejia singled with two outs before Windle doubled to center to drive her in and give Arizona State the lead.
THE NOTE
San Diego State improves to 14-12 all-time in NCAA Tournament games played at UCLA’s Easton Stadium.
THE NOTE II
Over her last ten games, Gabriella Terrones is 3-for-7 with three home runs (two go-ahead), seven RBIs, three runs scored and a 2.314 OPS.
UP NEXT
Third-seeded San Diego State will continue the Los Angeles Regional on Saturday against No. 9/9 UCLA at 2 p.m. PT. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and possibly a cable network as well.
San Diego State 3, Arizona State 2
San Diego State (38-17) 100 000 2 – 3 6 0
Arizona State (35-20) 010 001 0 – 2 7 0
W – Cellura, 19-7; L – Brown, 19-7
HR: Uribe, SDSU (7); Terrones, SDSU (3)