March 6, 2004
UCLA Box Score
Syracuse Box Score
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State softball team (12-11) gave undefeated and No. 1/1 UCLA (19-0) all they could handle on Saturday at the SDSU Tournament, but finally fell in 10 innings, 1-0. Pitcher Deanna Richards (Visalia, Calif.) held the Bruins to their lowest run total of the year and kept them homerless for only the third time in its 19 games. Richards did not allow an earned run in 9+ innings of work against UCLA, who entered the game averaging 5.9 runs a game.
The attendance of 701 set a school record.
The Aztecs followed up their magnificent performance against UCLA with a clutch 2-1 victory over Syracuse, scoring the winning run in the bottom of the seventh with an RBI double to center field by center fielder Janna Kovensky (San Diego, Calif.). Pitcher Celena Velasquez (Tucson, Ariz.) threw a three-hitter and retired 14 consecutive batters at one point.
Against the Bruins, Richards worked her way out of numerous jams unscathed. UCLA loaded the bases with two out in the second and also in the sixth, had two on in the fourth and started the eighth and ninth with the international-tiebreaker placed runner on second to start the inning and Richards did not allow any of the Bruin runners to score.
Shortstop Bianca Cruz (Glendale, Ariz.) helped stymie the sixth-inning rally when, with runners on first and second with one out, she leaped in the air to snag a hard liner from Bruin second baseman Lisa Dodd. Following a walk to load the bases, Richards retired left fielder Ashley Herrera on a pop up to first.
UCLA won the game in the bottom of the 10th when right fielder Caitlin Benyi singled to center field to score Herrera, the placed runner on second. The win for the Bruins extended their winning streak to 24, dating back to the Women's College World Series last year and was their 45th straight over the Aztecs. The game marked UCLA's first against San Diego State on the SDSU campus since Feb. 25, 1990.
SDSU rebounded to top Syracuse in the final game of the day, 2-1. The Aztecs grabbed a first-inning lead when Kovensky scored on a wild pitch. The Orangewomen tied the game in the top of the second, but then Velasquez dominated Syracuse by retiring the next 14.
San Diego State had two runners reach in the second, third and sixth innings, but could not get a run home until Kovensky's single in the seventh scored pinch hitter Joann Figueroa (Phoenix, Ariz.).
In other action on Saturday at the SDSU Tournament, Cal Poly 1, Syracuse 0 (8 innings) and Nevada 3, Cal Poly 0.
The Aztecs finish their tournament at 1 p.m. on Sunday facing Cal Poly. Other tournament games on Sunday include: Nevada vs. Syracuse, 9 a.m.; Nevada vs. UCLA, 11 a.m.; and Cal Poly vs. UCLA, 3 p.m.