Feb. 14, 2007
SAN DIEGO -
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Aztecs Try to Get Back on Winning Track; Travel to Austin, Texas for Texas Invitational
The San Diego State softball team will look to stop its losing ways when it travels to the Lonestar State for the Texas Invitational in Austin this weekend. The Aztecs (1-4), who have lost four games in a row, will meet Texas A&M Corpus Christi (0-1) at 2:30 p.m. Friday to kick off a five-game schedule.
SDSU will then meet No. 10 and tournament host Texas (4-1) at 5 p.m. Friday. On Thursday, the Aztecs are scheduled to play North Texas (2-3) at 11 a.m. and, depending on their seed after the round-robin first round, again at either 5 p.m. (No. 2 vs. No. 3) or 7:30 p.m. (No. 1 vs. No. 4). The consolation (10 a.m.) and championship game (12:30 p.m.) are slated for Sunday.
San Diego State is 7-3 in season-opening road games under 11th-year head coach Kathy Van Wyk and 6-3 in season-opening neutral contests (Aztecs did not play a neutral game in 1997). SDSU is 15-11 all-time against teams from the state of Texas.
The Aztecs travel to the nation's second-largest state for the first time since Feb. 22-23, 2002 when they competed in the Compass Bank Invitational in Waco, hosted by Baylor. SDSU played five games over the two days and went 3-2, defeating Oakland, Creighton and Stephen F. Austin in the process.
A Look at Texas A&M Corpus Christi
The Aztecs will be playing Texas A&M Corpus Christi for the first time in school history. The Islanders come into the weekend looking for their first win after going 0-5 in the Getterman Classic in Waco. Two of the losses, however, came against No. 18 Baylor.
Erica Armenta and Andrea Gonzales are each batting .333 to lead the TAMCC offense. Gonzales and Margo Hurdt have each homered as well. Jennifer Cummings has logged the majority of the innings in the circle for the Islanders, going 0-4 with a 5.11 ERA. Opponents are hitting .360 off her and she has allowed nine walks while striking out four batters. Hurdt (0-1, 12.96 ERA) has also seen some time in the circle.
A Glance at No. 10 Texas
San Diego State will meet perennial national power Texas in its second game of the Invitational at 5 p.m. Friday. The Longhorns, who are ranked No. 10 and 11 in the respective national polls, are off to a 4-1 start. Texas has beaten nationally ranked teams UCLA (1-0), Stanford (7-6) and Long Beach State (10-3), but lost in its most recent game to Mountain West Conference foe Utah, 5-4, in eight innings.
Jacquel Williams and MicKayla Padilla are each batting .429 to lead the Longhorns offense. Kacie Gaskin is batting .294 with two homers and six RBI, while Loryn Johnson (.353) has one home run and a team-high eight RBI. Texas is led in the circle by Megan Denny and Erin Tresselt. Denny is 2-0 with a 0.84 ERA in 16 2/3 innings, while Tresselt is 1-1 with a 0.93 ERA. The duo has combined for 33 strikeouts in five games and have given up just one extra-base hit apiece.
The Aztecs are 21-21 all-time against Big 12 schools.
Noting North Texas
North Texas, which lost to San Diego State, 1-0, in the only meeting between the two schools on March 13, 2004, is off to a 2-3 start after competing in the New Mexico State Las Cruces Hilton Invitational last weekend. the Mean Green split with Aztec rival Colorado State, winning the first game by a 6-3 margin, but falling in the second meeting, 8-7.
Susan Waters is one of three hitters batting over .400 for North Texas. In fact, Waters is batting .625 (10-for-16) with seven runs scored, two homers and five RBI. She is slugging 1.313 and has a .700 on-base percentage. Kristina Fowler (.429) has five RBI and Kadie Platt (.412) has scored six times for the Mean Green. Three pitchers - Kayla Lawson (1-1, 2.55 ERA), Ashley Lail (109, 4.20 ERA) and Fowler (0-2, 6.22 ERA) have combined for a 4.20 team ERA.
The Aztecs are just 2-5 all-time against Sun Belt opponents.
Youth Is Served
The Aztecs are the preseason pick by the coaches to win the Mountain West Conference despite having the youngest team in the league. 68.4 percent (13-of-19) of SDSU's roster are underclassmen. The 2007 squad boasts seven freshmen, six sophomores, four juniors and just two seniors in Amanda Beasley and Christy Hollingshead.
Utah, which won the MWC tournament last season, is the most experienced team in the conference as eight of its 14 players (57.1 percent) are juniors or seniors.
Errors Hurting Aztecs
Historically one of the strengths of San Diego State softball, the Aztecs have been struggling in the field thus far this season. SDSU has 16 errors through five games, an average of 3.20 errors per game. Last season, the Aztecs committed only 53 errors in 49 games, or 1.08 per game. SDSU has already had six errors in two games this season, a 6-1 loss to No. 10 Cal on Feb. 9 and in a 16-1, six-inning loss to No. 23 UMass on Feb. 10. Last season, the Aztecs committed four or more errors in a game only one time, in a 2-1 early season loss to No. 2 UCLA.
Although the 16 errors are spread out over nine players, one doesn't have to look too far to see the problem with the SDSU's early season miscues since two players are playing new positions in the infield and another is seeing more playing time than she has the last three seasons. Sophomore shortstop Monica Alnes, who played first base last season and outfield in high school, has four errors, but has made some incredible plays in the field already, including some deep throws from the hole. Senior Amanda Beasley, who has only seen action in 63 games over her three-plus season on The Mesa, has two errors at second base and sophomore Melissa Owens, who pitched and played shortstop last year, has one error at first base.
Freshmen One-Two Punch
Freshmen Brittany Knudsen (San Diego) and Lindsey Marquez (Tustin, Calif.) are each off to a hot start in their first season at San Diego State.
Knudsen leads the team with a .750 slugging percentage and is tied with Marquez with a .500 on-base percentage. In addition, her three hits in eight at-bats for a .375 batting average is second on the squad. Knudsen wasted no time making her mark in collegiate softball as she hit a homer over the right field fence in her first official at-bat. It was the second straight season a freshman homered in their first career at bat (Erin Floros, 2006). Knudsen has been stellar in the field as well and even threw out a runner at home plate from center field in her first weekend.
Marquez has been just as impressive, batting .333 (3-for-9), third-highest on the squad. Her .500 on-base percentage is tied with Knudsen for the highest on the squad. and her two sacrifice hits are tied with Tamani Wells for tops on the team. Playing at both right field and second base this season, Marquez has been perfect in the field, making plays in all 10 of her chances.
SDSU Softball Picked to Repeat as MWC Champions
The San Diego State softball team has been picked to win the Mountain West Conference by the league's coaches in a preseason poll released by the conference. Last season, the Aztecs, who are receiving votes in both the ESPN/USA Softball and USA Today/NFCA preseason polls, won their third MWC regular season title in the last five years with a 15-3 record in league play and a 34-15 overall mark, their best winning percentage in school history.
SDSU collected 25 points to capture the top spot in the poll, including five of the possible six first-place votes. Brigham Young received the other first-place vote. The Aztecs were followed by UNLV (19 points), Brigham Young (17 points), Utah (14), Colorado State (10) and New Mexico (5).
San Diego State returns six starters, including sophomore All-American Erin Floros and Mountain West Conference Pitcher of the Year Christina Ross, from its 2006 squad which finished runner-up to UCLA at the NCAA Los Angeles Regional.