May 13, 2005
SAN DIEGO - Ryanne Hodgins singled home Becky Dover with two outs in the bottom of the 13th inning to lift New Mexico to a 3-2 victory over San Diego State in an elimination game at the 2005 Mountain West Conference Softball Championships at SDSU's Softball Stadium on Friday afternoon.
The loss overshadowed a dominating relief performance by Aztec senior Cori Janelli who tossed nine innings of perfect baseball in relief of Celena Vasquez. She retired the first 27 batters she faced prior to a leadoff single by Christina Rios in the 13th inning.
SDSU left 13 runners on base in the game, including a waste of a leadoff double in the 13th inning.
San Diego State had rallied from a two-run deficit to force the extra innings with single runs in the fourth and fifth innings.
Rios got the winning rally started with a single to center field, ending Janelli's streak of 27 straight hitters retired. Liz Young advanced pitch runner Becky Dover to second on a sacrifice bunt. With two outs, Ryanne Hodgins singled to left scoring Dover from second with the game-winning run.
The Lobos took their first lead in the bottom of the third inning when UNM centerfielder Amy Ray drew a leadoff walk and then scored on a triple by Kristina Schmallen. The Lobos then got a two-out RBI by Cassie Chavez to complete the inning.
San Diego State got back into the game in the fourth inning when a single by Tariyn Casillas got past the Lobo defense and rolled to the fence. The relay throw then sailed into the third base dugout, allowing Casillas to score.
San Diego State got even in the fifth inning on the second home run of the season by shortstop Chrissie Markham. The homer was the Aztecs' second in the tournament after they hit just 12 during the regular season.
In the sixth, SDSU got a leadoff double from Casillas. She moved to third on a sacrifice bunt on Megan McDonald but she was left stranded. SDSU also got the leadoff runner in the eight inning, but left the runner stranded.
San Diego State ended the season at 27-30 and will not appear in the MWC championship for the first time since 2000.