Nov. 21, 2012
SAN DIEGO -
The San Diego State softball team has signed five athletes to National Letters of Intent, head coach Kathy Van Wyk announced today. The list of five includes Sydnee Cable (Huntington Beach, Calif./Marina HS), Jaylene Ignacio (San Diego/El Camino HS), Frankie Orlando (Roseville, Calif./Woodcreek HS), Erica Romero (Santiago, Calif./Corona HS) and Andi Smith (Emery, Utah/Emery HS).
Cable comes to The Mesa after playing her club ball with Pure FastPitch and her prep ball at Marina High School. A four-year letterwinner with the Vikings, Cable hit .441 (15-for-34) in the spring with five doubles, two triples and a home run. Cable, who has seen time at first base and as a pitcher over her career, has helped Marina to three straight trips to the CIF tournament and a Sunset League title in 2010, where she led the Vikings in home runs.
A local product out of El Camino High School in Oceanside, Calif., Ignacio hit .367 (29-for-90) last season with the Wildcats with a .595 slugging percentage and .444 on-base percentage. A second baseman, she added six homers, 21 runs and 19 RBIs en route to earning first-team Avocado League West honors for the second consecutive year. A scholar-athlete and two-time member of the Union-Tribune All-Academic Team, Ignacio plays her club ball with The Next Level (TNL).
Orlando takes her talents to the Aztecs after excelling for the Lady Magic 18 GOLD (club team) and Woodcreek High School. Last year the catcher/outfielder batted .317 (26-for-82) with 16 RBIs as the Timberwolves captured the Sac-Joaquin Division II section championship with a 26-4 overall record. A four-year letterwinner with Woodcreek HS, Orlando earned first-team all-Sierra Foothill League accolades last season.
Romero becomes the third Santiago High School product to join SDSU in the past four years, joining current senior twin sisters Kamerin May and Kristin May. Last year with the Sharks, the right-hander went 10-7 with a 2.41 ERA and 103 strikeouts in 110 innings. As a sophomore in 2011, Romero helped Santiago capture the CIF-SS Division I title and finish No. 1 in the final CalHiSports.com state rankings by going 16-3 with a 1.37 ERA and 146 strikeouts in 128 innings. A two-time first-team all-league pick, Romero plays her club ball with the Minors Gold.
An Emery, Utah, native, Smith is the lone recruit in this talented class from outside the state of California. Smith, a right-handed power pitcher, will be playing her club ball with the Utah Crush in 2013 after playing for the eighth-ranked club team in the country in Salt Lake Pegasus in 2012, where she averaged more than two strikeouts per inning. In 2011, SLP finished seventh in the ASA Championships. Smith is also a scholar-athlete.
San Diego State is coming off a 32-24 season in 2012, advancing to the NCAA tournament for a school-record fifth consecutive year and capturing its fifth Mountain West title. The Aztecs went 2-2 in the NCAA Los Angeles Regional before being eliminated in the regional championship game for the second straight year, falling just short of the NCAA Super Regionals (equivalent to the Sweet 16). SDSU finished with single-season program records in slugging percentage (.466), doubles (79), home runs (58), RBIs (237) and total bases (692), and received votes in both national polls.
San Diego State kicks off its 2013 slate in Tempe, Ariz., when it competes in Arizona State's Kajikawa Classic from Feb. 7-9. Two of the Aztecs' five games at the classic will be against 2012 NCAA tournament teams, including Northwestern (Feb. 8) and Women's College World Series qualifier Arizona (Feb. 9). SDSU also plays Creighton (Feb. 7), Stephen F. Austin (Feb. 8) and Western Michigan (Feb. 9).