April 23, 2010
PROVO, Utah -
Senior Brittany Knudsen (San Diego/Escondido HS) homered and drove in a career-high five runs, while becoming the all-time school leader in doubles to lead the San Diego State softball team to a 9-4 victory over Brigham Young in Provo, Utah. Junior pitcher Samantha Beasley (San Diego/Steele Canyon HS) struck out 11 to set the single-season record for the Aztecs, who improved to 27-11 and 5-1 in the Mountain West Conference.
SDSU spotted the Cougars (30-10, 5-2 MWC), who like San Diego State are receiving votes in both the USA Today/NFCA and ESPN.com/USA Softball national polls, three runs in the bottom of the first inning before exploding for nine straight runs en route to the 9-4 win. The Aztecs have now won 19 of their last 22 games.
Knudsen finished the day 3-for-4 with five RBIs, two runs and a double. The double was her 35th of her career, which passed Kellie Nordhagen (1999-02) and Erryn Gutjahr (1996-99) for first on the school's all-time list. Her home run was her first of the season and eighth of her career.
Freshman Kristin May (Corona, Calif.) had two hits and homered for the second consecutive game, while her sister Kristin May (Corona, Calif.) and sophomore Justeen Maeva (San Diego/Mira Mesa/Cal State Bakersfield) each drove in a run.
Junior Jessica Camello (Temecula, Calif.) scored twice and five others - sophomore Felicia Reifschneider (San Diego/Morse HS), Kristin May, redshirt freshman Roshana Lavery (San Diego/Mission Bay HS), sophomore Ashley Rose (Antioch, Calif.) and junior Jen Wisneski (Riverside, Calif.) - added one run apiece.
Beasley allowed four runs (three earned) on nine hits and three walks over seven innings to improve to 22-6 with her career-long ninth straight victory. Her 11 strikeouts gives her 277 for the season, two more than Christina Ross had in 2008. Beasley has now won 17 of her last 18 decisions.
San Diego State continues its four-game road trip Saturday (2 p.m. MT) with another game against BYU.
San Diego State 9, Brigham Young 4 San Diego State (27-11, 5-1 MWC)010 133 1 -- 9 12 1 Brigham Young (30-10, 5-2 MWC) 300 000 1 -- 4 9 2 Beasley and Kr. May; Zinanti, Affleck (5), Howell (6), Zinanti (6) and Purcell-Fitu. Win: Beasley (22-6); Loss: Affleck (21-8) HR: Kr. May (SDSU) (3), Knudsen (SDSU) (1), Quiocho (BYU) (16)