April 3, 2004
Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - The San Diego State softball team came back from a 4-3, 11-inning loss in game one of Saturday's Mountain West Conference doubleheader with a 4-3, eight-inning win. The Aztecs are 23-18, 2-2 in the MWC while Utah is 10-21, 2-2 in MWC action.
The Aztecs tied game two with two outs in the seventh inning, assisted by two Ute errors, and pushed across the winning run in the top of the eighth when first baseman Lacey Craft (Valley Center, Calif.) singled to center field to score second baseman Joann Figueroa (Phoenix, Ariz.), who led off the frame with a single up the middle.
In the top of the 11th inning of game one, head coach Kathy Van Wyk announced that she was playing the game under protest because the international tiebreaker rule was put into play. She did not believe MWC games should use the international tiebreaker at any point.
Earlier in game one, a second-inning home run to right-center by third baseman Kelcy Murphy (San Diego, Calif.) gave SDSU a 1-0 lead. It was the 10th of her career, moving Murphy into sole possession of third place on the SDSU career home run charts. Fellow senior Janna Kovensky (San Diego, Calif.), a center fielder, is second with 11, while Erryn Gutjahr hit 17 from 1996-99.
The Aztecs added to their lead with a single tally in the third. Shortstop Meagan Hartung (San Diego, Calif.) led off the frame with a double to right-center. Left fielder Erin Mahoney (Westchester, Calif.) bunted her to third and Kovensky singled her in.
Utah got one back in their half of the fourth when Lynsey Wall homered just to the right of the left field foul pole, but the Aztecs responded in the sixth with a double by Figueroa and RBI single from Craft. Utah came right back in their half of the sixth, leading off with three consecutive singles and scoring twice to tie the game, 3-3.
The teams competed to a scoreless draw the next four innings and in the 11th, San Diego State immediately bunted their runner to third, but was not able to take a lead, while Utah not only bunted their runner to third but also singled her in to end the game.
The game time of 3:00 and 11 innings tied season highs for the Aztecs, matching an 11-inning, three-hour game against Washington on Feb. 8. The 13 hits ties a season high, versus Hawai'i on Feb. 21 and Southern Utah on March 21.
Four Aztecs contributed two hits each: Hartung, Mahoney, Murphy and Craft (all four went 2-for-5). Doubles were hit by Hartung, Mahoney, Figueroa and catcher Danielle Touhey (Fresno, Calif.), while Murphy had her second inning homer.
In game two, the Aztecs took control right at the start with leadoff singles by Hartung and Mahoney. Kovensky bunted them over, Murphy had an RBI ground out and Figueroa doubled to left center to score Mahoney.
Utah closed the Aztec lead to 2-1 when a run was squeezed home with a well-placed bunt and tied the game in the sixth on a lead-off homer. A succeeding triple and double gave Utah a 3-2 lead, leading up to SDSU's dramatics in the seventh and eighth.
The Aztecs now head home for their first four home MWC games of the season, with doubleheaders at 1 p.m. on Friday versus Colorado State and at 1 p.m. on April 11 against New Mexico.