May 8, 2004
Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
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SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State softball team dropped its final two Aztec games ever at SDSU Field on Saturday afternoon, 4-0 and 5-1, to BYU, dropping the Aztecs to second place in the Mountain West Conference with a slim chance to still tie for the regular season championship. Today's games also marked the last two home games for the winningest class in SDSU softball history: senior second baseman Joann Figueroa (Phoenix, Ariz.), center fielder Janna Kovensky (San Diego, Calif.) and third baseman Kelcy Murphy (San Diego, Calif.).
"This was a truly emotional day all around," head coach Kathy Van Wyk said. "They (BYU) seemed to be getting all the bloopers and we couldn't get anything. We weren't ourselves though and everybody seemed in a funk. I'm glad we had our bad weekend this week and can leave this behind and play the way that we know we can next weekend (at the MWC Tournament)."
Today marked the closing of SDSU Field as the softball team's primary home facility. A new softball/tennis facility, located right next to Tony Gwynn Stadium, is being built to replace SDSU Field and is scheduled to be completed by October 2004.
Colorado State (37-20, 14-4 MWC) now leads the Aztecs (35-22, 14-6 MWC) in the standings (see complete up-to-date standings below) and still has two games left, playing host to New Mexico in a doubleheader on Sunday, beginning at 1 p.m. MDT. If the Rams were to lose both, Colorado State and San Diego State would be named co-champions and SDSU would earn the No. 1 seed at next week's MWC Tournament because the Aztecs won three-of-four from CSU this season. With a single Colorado State win against the Lobos tomorrow, the Rams would end SDSU run as regular season champions as the Aztecs won the title in both 2002 and 2003.
BYU pitcher Brooke Boyce shut down the Aztecs in game one, allowing four hits in the complete-game shutout. The Cougars scored twice in the second on three singles and a walk and a two-run homer in the fifth by catcher Lauren Watson over the right-field fence gave BYU (34-17, 11-8 MWC) all the runs that it would need.
First baseman Lacey Craft (Valley Center, Calif.) turned in an impressive 2-for-3 performance in game one.
After the Cougars took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning in game two, helped by a couple of uncharacteristic dropped pop-ups by the Aztec defense, the Aztecs then tied it up, 1-1, in their half of the third. Right fielder Bree Boyer (Huntington Beach, Calif.) drove in shortstop Meagan Hartung (San Diego, Calif.) with a double to the right-center gap. Hartung had reached on a single to right center.
BYU however took the lead, 2-1, in the fifth and then added three more runs in its half of the seventh, hitting five singles in the frame, for the final 5-1 count.
Even though Aztec hurler Celena Velasquez (Tucson, Ariz.) had a tough outing in game two, allowing five runs, four earned, in 6.1 innings, she still finished the MWC season (counting MWC games only) with a 6-1 record and had five saves to go with her 0.85 ERA, which would be the third-best in MWC history, just behind Velasquez's freshman season last year when she compiled a 0.81 ERA in conference games and former Aztec Bre DeSanta's freshman season in 2002 when she had a 0.83 ERA. Jessica Strickland of Colorado State did enter this week's action with a 0.80 ERA in MWC action.
The Aztecs had to go with a two-person pitching staff all weekend as normal starter Cori Janelli (Visalia, Calif.) was out with a stomach flu. The previous six MWC doubleheaders, Van Wyk had started Janelli in game one and Deanna Richards (Visalia, Calif.) in the second game with Velasquez coming in relief whenever necessary, but this weekend Richards started both of the first games and Velasquez the two second games. Janelli is expected to be back and healthy for the MWC Tournament.
San Diego State now heads for the MWC Tournament, hosted by Colorado State in Fort Collins, from May 13-15. The Aztecs will either be a No. 1 or No. 2 seed and has a first-round bye with their first game at either 2 p.m. or 4:30 p.m. MDT on Thursday. Games will be played on Thursday and Friday at 9 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. with the championship game slated for a 2 p.m. start on Saturday with two possible games played that day prior to the championship depending on how the tournament plays out. The format is double-elimination except for the single-game championship. The winner of the championship earns an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. The announcement show takes place at 5 p.m. on May 16 on ESPNews.