COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – San Diego State softball’s Cece Cellura garnered Mountain West Pitcher of the Week accolades, the league announced Monday. Cellura earned the honor for the fourth time this season after pitching in all three games of SDSU’s sweep of San Jose State and not allowing any earned runs.
San Diego State (33-16, 16-6) swept the Spartans in a trio of one-run games. In Thursday’s series opener, SDSU played small ball, scoring on a sacrifice fly and an error to earn a 2-1 victory. On Friday, the Aztecs went up 3-0 after three innings and seemed to be in good shape before a solo home run in the fourth and a pair of errors led to two more runs in the fifth inning and the Spartans tied the game. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Shannon Cunningham put the Aztecs back on top for good with a home run to right field as SDSU triumphed by a 4-3 score. In the final game of the regular season on Saturday, San Diego State scored a run in each of the first and second innings to take a 2-0 lead. San Jose State struck back with a solo homer in the third and a two-run home run in the fourth to take its first lead of the series before adding on another run in the fifth. The Aztecs returned the favor with a run in the sixth to pull within one before Cali Decker capped off a two-run rally in the seventh with a walk-off single to complete a 5-4 victory.
Over the weekend, Cellura posted a 0.00 ERA, 0.87 WHIP and 9.00 K:BB ratio while going 3-0. In her 10.1 innings of work, she allowed just eight hits, all singles, and only one walk while striking out nine Spartans. Cellura started Thursday’s contest and pitched the first six innings, allowing just one unearned run and four singles while matching a career-high with seven strikeouts. Her strikeout total matched her record for the most in a game by an Aztec pitcher this season. On Friday, she entered a tied game in the sixth inning and shut out the Spartans over the final two innings, allowing just a single in each to earn another win. Cellura came into Saturday’s game with the Aztecs down two runs and a runner on first with two outs in the fifth inning and shut out SJSU over the final 2.1 innings to earn yet another win, allowing a pair of singles and a walk while striking out two including an inning-ending strikeout in the sixth inning with the bases loaded and two outs. Her effort kept the Aztecs in the game and gave the offense a chance to rally for three runs across the sixth and seventh innings to win the game and complete the sweep.
Cellura also earned the honor on February 17, March 31 and April 14. Her four Pitcher of the Week awards are the most of any Mountain West weekly award won by an Aztec in a season since Allie Light garnered Pitcher of the Week accolades four times in 2023 on her way to being named the conference’s Pitcher of the Year. Dee Dee Hernandez (Feb. 24) and Grace Uribe (April 28) were named Mountain West Pitcher of the Week this season as well, meaning that all three of SDSU’s qualified pitchers (at least 1 inning pitched per team game played) have brought home the award. SDSU’s ten Mountain West weekly awards this year were tied with Nevada for the most in the conference.
This week, San Diego State is hosting the Mountain West Tournament at SDSU Softball Stadium. The event runs from Wednesday-Saturday, and, after a bye, the second-seeded Aztecs will open against the winner of third-seeded Fresno State and sixth-seeded San Jose State at 6 p.m. PT on Thursday. The entire tournament will be broadcast on the Mountain West Network.