May 9, 2013
SDSU 5, UNLV 1 | 
SDSU 5, UNLV 1 | 
HIGHLIGHTS | 
GALLERY
SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego State softball team clinched at least a share of the Mountain West title with a 5-1 win over UNLV Thursday night at SDSU Softball Stadium. The Aztecs improved to 33-18 overall and 11-5 in league play.
Fresno State (11-7, conference play completed) and Colorado State (9-7) can share the Mountain West championship with SDSU, but San Diego State owns all the tiebreakers and earns the league's automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. The Aztecs can clinch the MW title outright with a win vs. the Rebels (21-29, 7-9 MW) on either Friday (5 p.m. PT) or Saturday (1 p.m. PT).
SDSU has now won the Mountain West six times (2002-03, 2006, 2008, 2012-13) and has advanced to nine NCAA tournaments, including six consecutive appearances.
Junior Lorena Bauer (San Diego/Steele Canyon HS) led the San Diego State offense by going 2-for-2 with a home run, double and three RBIs. Senior Kristin May (Corona, Calif.) added a two-run single and junior Patrice Jackson (Kansas City, Mo.) singled and scored a pair of runs.
Senior right-hander Rebecca Arbino (Clovis, Calif.) picked up the win for the Aztecs as she held UNLV hitless for 4 2/3 innings. She ended up allowing one run on four hits and walk, while striking out 11 batters, and is now 19-12 on the season.
SDSU broke open a scoreless tie with three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Senior Tiffany Corder (San Clemente, Calif.) led off with a walk and moved to second when Rebel shortstop Tayler Aleman was unable to field Jackson's hard-hit ball. Bauer then doubled down the left field line to score Corder and move Jackson to third. After junior Dominique Dinner (Monterey, Calif.) replaced Bauer at second and senior Kamerin May (Corona, Calif.) lined out to UNLV third baseman Jamie Depippo, Kristin May singled up the middle to plate Jackson and Dinner with insurance runs.
After getting their first hit in the fifth, the Rebels finally broke through with a run in the sixth when Aleman's single scored Samantha Juarez.
San Diego State responded in the sixth when Bauer ripped a two-run homer just inside the left-field foul pole that scored Jackson, who had singled and moved to second on a wild pitch. It was Bauer's 12th home run of the season and 40th of her career.
The conference championship was the Aztec athletic department's 10th of the 2012-13 year (also women's soccer (regular season and tournament), football, volleyball, swimming & diving, women's basketball (regular season), indoor track & field, men's tennis (regular season) and women's tennis (regular season)). Softball will also be the ninth SDSU team to advance to an NCAA tournament.
San Diego State will look to clinch the outright MW championship at 5 p.m. PT tomorrow against UNLV in a game that be broadcast live on CBS Sports Network.
NOTES: The Aztecs have won consecutive league championships for the first time since 2002-03 ... Either SDSU or Brigham Young has won every Mountain West championship since 2005 ... San Diego State improved to 51-37 all-time against the Rebels, including a 20-6 mark since 2006 (10-1 in San Diego since 2006) ... The Aztecs improved to 16-5 at home, 18-5 in night games, 28-6 when scoring first, 24-2 when leading after five innings, 33-8 when leading at any point in the game and 20-5 when they hit at least one homer ... DP Lorena Bauer extended her team highs in multi-hit games (21), multi-RBI games (12) and go-ahead RBIs (18) ... Bauer had her 36th career double, which ties Brittany Knudsen (2007-10) for the most all-time at SDSU .. Bauer already owns career records in extra-base hits (78), home runs (40) and RBIs (129) ... Bauer's two hits gives her 65 for the year, which ranks sixth among the program single-season leaders ... San Diego State improved to 10-1 this season when Bauer homers ... CF Patrice Jackson recorded her team-leading eighth multi-run game of the year ... RHP Rebecca Arbino picked up her 19th win of the season, which ties Bailey Micetich (2009) for the eighth on the Aztec single-season charts ... Arbino had 11 strikeouts and now has five double-digit strikeout games this year after not posting one her first three collegiate seasons (2009-10 at Texas A&M, 2012 at SDSU).
San Diego State 5, UNLV 1
UNLV (21-29, 7-9 MW) 000 001 0 -- 1 4 1
San Diego State (33-18, 11-5 MW) 000 302 x -- 5 4 0
Oliveto and Harrison, Haslinger (5); Arbino and Kr. May
W - Arbino, 19-12; L - Oliveto, 18-16
HR: San Diego State, Bauer (12)