March 30, 2010
LONG BEACH, Calif. -
The San Diego State softball team scored four runs in the top of the first inning and never looked back en route to an 8-0, six-inning victory over Long Beach State Tuesday in Long Beach, Calif. The Aztecs (20-9), who are receiving votes once again in both the USA Today/NFCA and ESPN.com/USA Softball national polls, have now won 12 of their last 13 games.
Senior Brittany Knudsen (San Diego/Escondido HS) and sophomore Felicia Reifschneider (San Diego/Morse HS) each went 2-for-3 with two runs apiece to pace the offense, which outhit the 49ers (16-15), 10-2. Senior Stefanie Quichocho-Rosario (San Diego/Morse HS) singled in her only plate appearance and scored twice, while junior Eva Sahatdjian (Fresno, Calif.) sealed the game with a two-run single in the sixth inning.
SDSU, which hadn't played a game since beating Oregon State, 4-1, on March 22, scored four runs in the top of the first, thanks to three hits, two walks, three LBSU illegal pitches (balks) and one error in the frame. Knudsen singled home Reifschneider with the first run, before junior Jessica Camello (Temecula, Calif.) scored from third on a bases loaded balk. Redshirt senior Monica Alnes (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.) made it 3-0 in favor of the visitors when her sacrifice fly to right field scored Knudsen. Quichocho-Rosario, who replaced sophomore Justeen Maeva (San Diego/Mira Mesa HS/Cal State Bakersfield) after Maeva walked and moved to second on a balk, scored the final run of the inning on an error by the Long Beach State shortstop.
Making just her sixth plate appearance of the season, Quichocho-Rosario led off the third with an infield single and advanced to second on a single by Alnes. Sahatdjian moved both runners on a groundout to third, before junior Traci Wolf's (Lancaster, Calif.) groundout to the same base scored Quichocho-Rosario, giving San Diego State the 5-0 advantage.
The Aztecs looked to put the game away in the sixth as Reifschneider got to third after an infield single, a stolen base and a groundout by Camello. After Knudsen drew a full count walk, Maeva singled to left for SDSU's sixth score of the contest. An Alnes flyout allowed Knudsen and Maeva to move up a base, before Sahatdjian put the run-rule in effect with a single off the third baseman's glove.
Junior Samantha Beasley (San Diego/Steele Canyon HS) finished the run-rule in the bottom of the sixth after getting Ashley Weber to fly out to Reifschneider in left, Kristen Pocock to ground out to sophomore Ashley Rose (Antioch, Calif.) at third and, after a walk to Christina Schallig, Caitrin DeBaun to ground out to Rose once again. Beasley (15-6) allowed two singles and three walks over six innings, while striking out nine for the victory.
San Diego State travels to Cal State Fullerton for a single game at 4 p.m. Wednesday.
San Diego State 8, Long Beach State 0 (6 innings) San Diego State (20-9) 401 003 -- 8 10 0 Long Beach State (16-15) 000 000 -- 0 2 1 Beasley and Sahatdjian; Turner, Petty (1), Pagano (5) and Pocock Win: Beasley (15-6); Loss: Turner (8-6)