Feb. 7, 2004
Santa Clara Box Score
Long Beach State Box Score
LAKEWOOD, Calif. - The San Diego State softball rallied for three seventh-inning runs to top Santa Clara, 6-5, on Saturday morning before falling to Long Beach State in the afternoon, 4-1. The games were part of the Long Beach State Invitational. With the split, the Aztecs are now 3-2.
Trailing the morning game with Santa Clara, 4-3, SDSU mounted a rally in the top of the seventh. With one out, Aztec second baseman Joann Figueroa (Phoneix, Ariz.) drove in third baseman Meagan Hartung (San Diego, Calif.) with a sacrifice fly. Subsequent RBI singles by left fielder Erin Mahoney (Westchester, Calif.) and center fielder Janna Kovensky (San Diego, Calif.) gave SDSU a 6-4 advantage.
Santa Clara rallied for a run in the bottom of the seventh and had the tying run at third before Aztec pitcher Celena Velasquez (Tucson, Ariz.) struck out Bronco first baseman Kelley Johnson for the final out.
The Aztecs grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first when catcher Danielle Touhey (Fresno, Calif.) lined an RBI single to score Mahoney. When Santa Clara catcher Rachel Sherman overthrew second attempting to stop Touhey from advancing during the play on Mahoney at the plate, both Touhey and Kovensky scored, giving SDSU an early 3-0 lead.
Santa Clara rallied for a single run in the second and three more in the fourth to take the 4-3 lead into the seventh.
Mahoney went 3-for-3 with two runs and an RBI, while Kovensky added two hits in four at-bats with a run and RBI.
Against Long Beach State, the Aztecs scored a seventh-inning run off third baseman Kelcy Murphy's (San Diego, Calif.) long RBI double to center field, but lost, 4-1.
Shortstop Bianca Cruz (Glendale, Ariz.) reached first all three trips to the plate with two singles and a walk.
The Aztecs close the tournament on Sunday with a pair of games against top-5 teams. SDSU faces No. 5 Washington at 11 a.m. and No. 1 UCLA at 5:30 p.m. The Aztecs have yet to beat the Huskies, trailing 9-0 in the all-time series (including an 8-0 loss on Friday), while UCLA has beaten SDSU 43 consecutive times dating back to a 2-1 Aztec win on April 29, 1977, and lead 50-2 in the all-time series.