March 14, 2009
SDSU-New Mexico State Box Score
SDSU-Iowa State Box Score
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State softball team extended its season-best winning steak to seven with victories over New Mexico State and Iowa State on Saturday during the SDSU Classic II being contested this weekend.
While the 8-1 win over New Mexico State may have been comfortable, the 4-3 victory in the nightcap against Iowa State was a tense battle that went 10 innings before being decided. The results improved the Aztecs to 18-11 on the year while the Aggies and Cyclones dropped to 18-8 and 16-11 respectively.
In the contest against NMSU, catcher Erin Floros led the offense with a pair of hits including a double and three runs batted in. That double came during SDSU's sixth-inning rally when it put the game away by scoring four runs on six hits. First baseman Monica Alnes had a two-run double in the frame as she finished the game with three RBI and a run scored. Christine Kulick and Jen Wisneski also each had two hits and a run batted in for SDSU in the contest.
Sophomore Samantha Beasley went the distance on the mound for SDSU, allowing one run on four hits while striking out nine and walking two. Despite the complete-game effort, she would also play a large role in the nightcap against Iowa State.
In that game, San Diego State gifted the visitors with a pair of unearned runs on two errors in the first inning to quickly fall behind 2-0. But SDSU fought back with single runs in both the third and fifth frames courtesy of RBI singles by Brittany Knudsen in each inning.
With both SDSU starter Bailey Micetich and ISU's Rachel Zabriskie settling in, neither team was able to score again after eight innings at which time the international tiebreaker rule was put into effect.
In the top of the ninth, a tiring Micetich saw Iowa State load the bases with no outs, at which time she gave way to Beasley. Kelsey Kidwell greeted the Aztec reliever with a single up the middle to bring home one run as the bases remained full. From there, Beasley proceeded to get a strikeout, pop out to first and a fly out to center to end the threat without further damage.
In the bottom of the frame, Stefanie Quichocho-Rosario was on second to start the inning and she advanced to third on a sac bunt by Tonye McCorkle before scoring an RBI grounder to second off the bat of Alnes.
After holding the Cyclones scoreless in the top of the 10th, SDSU won it as it loaded the bases with one out and Dani Sodoti brought home the winning run with an infield single. That made a winner of Beasley for the second time on the evening as she improved to 8-7. Zabriskie took the loss to drop to 9-7.
San Diego State will finish its weekend series of games with a contest against Cal State Northridge on Sunday (March 15) at 2:00 p.m. (PT) at the SDSU Softball Field.