April 9, 2004
Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
SAN DIEGO - A late-inning comeback and a slim lead held on to gave the San Diego State softball team (25-18, 4-2 Mountain West Conference) a pair of wins over Colorado State (24-11, 0-2 MWC) in their first two home MWC games of the season. After going 9-0 in home MWC games in 2003, the Aztecs now have an 11-game MWC home winning streak. San Diego State tied game one in the sixth, 1-1, and won it in the eighth, 2-1. SDSU took an early 3-0 lead in game two and held on for a 3-2 victory.
"I'm pleased that we took two from a very good team," head coach Kathy Van Wyk said.
Colorado State nursed a 1-0 lead in game one from the second inning until a clutch two-out RBI single by right fielder Bree Boyer (Huntington Beach, Calif.) in the sixth inning tied the game. Center fielder Janna Kovensky (San Diego, Calif.), who led off the frame with a single to right, scored on Boyer's hit.
Both teams were held scoreless until the bottom of the eighth when Kovensky once again sparked a rally, this time with a double to right field. Third baseman Kelcy Murphy (San Diego, Calif.) quickly drove her in with an ensuing double to center field. The win improved SDSU's extra-inning record to 3-4 and the game was its third consecutive extra-inning affair. It was also San Diego State's second walk-off win of the year and first that came in extra innings (SDSU defeated Syracuse with a run in the bottom of the seventh, 2-1, on March 6).
Kovensky went 2-for-4 in game one and crossed the plate twice while Murphy contributed two doubles. Pitchers Cori Janelli (Visalia, Calif.) and Celena Velasquez (Tucson, Ariz.) teamed up to shut down the powerful Ram offense, who entered the game with a .336 batting average. Velasquez earned the win when Kovensky crossed the plate in the eighth to improve to 10-4.
"Early in the game, we were able to identify our weaknesses such as going for the rise ball and popping up bunts, took what we learned and turned it around by the end of the game," Van Wyk said. "That's the sign of a good, mature team."
The Aztecs jumped on the board early in game two with two first-inning tallies and a third in the second. In the first, second baseman Joann Figueroa (Phoenix, Ariz.) singled in left fielder Erin Mahoney (Westchester, Calif.) and Murphy scored on a wild pitch. Kovensky drove in the single score in the second when she was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Colorado State came back in the fifth to score two runs on an errant throw. Later in the inning, Kovensky nailed a runner at the plate who was trying to score from second on a single with a one-bounce throw to catcher Danielle Touhey (Fresno, Calif.), who tagged the runner out. A one-out single in the seventh was not enough for the Rams as the Aztecs stranded the runner at first.
Pitchers Deanna Richards and Velasquez combined to allow five hits and two runs, neither earned. Richards improved to 8-6 while Velasquez earned the first save of the season for SDSU. Shortstop Meagan Hartung (San Diego, Calif.) turned in a 2-for-2 performance while Figueroa was 2-for-3 with one RBI.
San Diego State next plays at 1 p.m. on Sunday, hosting New Mexico (26-18, 0-0 in MWC play entering tonight's doubleheader at UNLV) in a MWC doubleheader.