March 20, 2009
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State softball team overcame a slow start Friday night with six runs in the bottom of the sixth inning in a 6-0 victory over Cal State Fullerton at SDSU Softball Stadium. The win moved the Aztecs to 20-13, while the Titans fell to 12-14. SDSU has now won nine of its last 11 games, 11 of its last 14 and 15 of its last 20 games.
This game started as a pitcher dual. Cal State Fullerton pitcher Ari Cervantes held San Diego State without a hit until the bottom of the sixth inning. The Aztecs' patience paid off as they exploded for six scores on five hits and two errors in the frame.
Sophomore Jen Wisneski (Riverside, Calif.) led off the inning with a single through the left side. Junior Brittany Knudsen (San Diego, Calif./Escondido HS) and freshman Felicia Reifschneider (San Diego, Calif./Morse HS) followed with back-to-back infield singles to the load the bases. Senior All-American Erin Floros (San Diego, Calif./Mt. Carmel HS) came through with a line drive single to right field to bring Wisneski in with the first run of the game. Redshirt senior Taryin Casillas (San Diego, Calif./Grossmont HS) continued the trend with a single up the middle to plate Knudsen. A pair of fielder's choice groundouts by senior Tonye McCorkle (Santa Ana Heights, Calif.) and sophomore Traci Wolf (Lancaster, Calif.) put the Aztecs up, 4-0.
Later in the inning, redshirt junior Monica Alnes (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.) drew a bases loaded walk, which scored Casillas for the fifth run and an error by Titan shortstop Courtney Martinez led to SDSU's final run of the game.
Sophomore Samantha Beasley (San Diego, Calif./Steele Canyon HS) struck out a career-high 14 batters in the complete game shutout. The 14 strikeouts are the third-most in a single game in school history, trailing only Celena Velasquez and Cori Janelli, who each struck out 15 in a game during the 2005 campaign. She allowed two hits, both which came in the first two innings, and two walks over seven frames to improve to 10-9 on the season.
San Diego State, which finished its season-long 10-game homestand with an 8-2 record, will complete its home-and-home with Cal State Fullerton tomorrow with a 1 p.m. game at Anderson Family Field in Fullerton, Calif.