April 11, 2004
Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State softball team extended its school-record home conference winning streak to 13 games and moved into sole possession of first place in the Mountain West Conference with a pair of victories over New Mexico on Sunday, 3-2 and 8-2. Center fielder Janna Kovensky (San Diego, Calif.) tied the SDSU school record for runs in a career when she scored her 126th on a fourth-inning single in game two from third baseman Kelcy Murphy (San Diego, Calif.). She is now tied with Kellie Nordhagen. Pitcher Celena Velasquez (Tucson, Ariz.) earned a win and save today after doing the same thing against Colorado State on Friday.
Murphy went 2-for-3 with one run scored and drove in all three runs in SDSU's 3-2 game one victory. She homered in the second inning for a team-high fourth home run of the season to give SDSU a 1-0 lead. The homer run was the 11th of her career, which ties her with Kovensky for second place on the all-time SDSU career list. Erryn Gutjahr (1996-99) had 17. In the third inning Murphy drove in two with a single up the middle.
New Mexico came back in the fourth on a two-run error to cut the lead to 3-2, but starting pitcher Cori Janelli (Visalia, Calif.) retired the side with only those two unearned runs scoring. After Velasquez came on in the fifth to earn the save, Janelli earned her eighth victory to go with eight setbacks.
The Aztec offense turned it on in game two, scoring eight runs for the first time in a MWC contest since nine crossed the plate on April 26, 2002, in a 9-2 home victory over Colorado State, a span of 29 MWC games. Kovensky (2-for-4, two runs, one RBI) and second baseman Joann Figueroa (Phoenix, Ariz.) (2-for-3, two runs, one RBI) led the way. Velasquez came on in the fourth to earn the victory to improve to 11-4 (.733 winning percentage).
Figueroa singled to lead off the second and was moved to second on a walk, to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on an RBI groundout by third baseman Bianca Cruz (Glendale, Ariz.). The Lobos quickly tied it, 1-1, in the top of the third with a home run by Sabrina Sandberg.
San Diego State pulled away with three runs in the third and four in the fourth, while New Mexico was only able to score one, in the top of the fourth. Figueroa drove in a baserunner in the third on a single while the other two runs were scored on an error. In the fourth, left fielder Erin Mahoney (Westchester, Calif.), Kovensky and Murphy all contributed RBI singles while a run scored on an error.
With the wins, the Aztecs (27-18, 6-2 MWC) lead four MWC teams by two games (UNLV: 4-4, BYU: 3-3, Utah: 3-3 and Colorado State: 2-2) and one by four games (New Mexico: 26-22, 0-4 MWC). The top two teams in the final regular season standings receive first-round byes in the double-elimination MWC Tournament to be played from May 13-15 at Colorado State. The regular season champion (or the second-place team if Colorado State earns the regular season crown) hosts the 2005 MWC Tournament.
The current conference home winning streak broke the previous record of seven (set from March 30-May 4, 2002) when SDSU swept Utah in a MWC doubleheader on April 19, 2003, by 3-0 and 1-0 counts to finish that campaign with a perfect 9-0 record in MWC home games. The Aztecs spent 1977-79 as an independent, 1980-85 in the Western Collegiate Athletic Association, from 1986-88 in the Pacific Coast Athletic Association, 1989-90 in the Big West Conference, 1991-99 in the Western Athletic Conference and since 2000 in the MWC. The Aztecs actually never won more than four consecutive home conference games until 1996 when the record went to five. It advanced to six in a stretch from 1998-99.
San Diego State hosts UNLV (21-25, 4-4 MWC entering a Thursday game at UC Riverside) in a MWC doubleheader at 1 p.m. on Friday.
MWC Standings
San Diego State 6-2 (27-18 overall)
UNLV 4-4 (21-25)
BYU 3-3 (21-12)
Utah 3-3 (13-22)
Colorado State 2-2 (26-11)
New Mexico 0-4 (26-22)