April 19, 2014
SAN DIEGO -
The San Diego State softball team banged out 14 hits and walked seven times en route to a 12-0, five-inning victory over Utah State Saturday afternoon at SDSU Softball Stadium. The Aztecs improved to 31-12 on the season, which matches their best start in school history (also 2006), and 8-4 in Mountain West play.
A day after being held to just two hits and a walk in a 1-0 loss to the Aggies (17-24, 5-7 MW), SDSU scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning, five in the third and five more in the fourth in the run-rule win.
Nine different players had a hit for San Diego State, led by junior Kayla Jordan (San Diego/Bonita Vista HS), who was 3-for-3 with a triple, two RBIs, three runs, a walk and a stolen base. Senior Katie Mathis (Grass Valley, Calif.) added two hits, two RBIs, three runs, a walk and a stolen base, while freshman Sydnee Cable (Huntington Beach, Calif.) had a hit and three RBIs.
Senior Patrice Jackson (Kansas City, Mo.) was 1-for-1 with two RBIs, a run, three walks and a stolen base and freshman Jaylene Ignacio (Oceanside/El Camino HS) homered for the first time of her career.
Sophomores Leia Ruiz (Chino, Calif.) (2-for-2, two runs, walk, stolen base) and Kayla Bufardeci (Castro Valley, Calif.) (2-for-3, run) each added two hits apiece and senior Dominique Dinner (Monterey, Calif.) had a two-run single in her only plate appearance.
Freshman Frankie Orlando (Roseville, Calif.) singled and scored a run and junior Hayley Miles (Antelope, Calif.) walked once.
The offense was plenty for the sophomore Danielle O'Toole (Upland, Calif.) and freshman Erica Romero (Corona, Calif.), who combined on a four-hit shutout. O'Toole (23-5) started the game and allowed four hits over four scoreless innings, while striking out one. Romero pitched a scoreless fifth and struck out one.
The Aztecs are back in action for a mid-week series at UNLV, playing a doubleheader Tuesday, beginning at 2 p.m. PT, and a single contest on Wednesday at noon PT.
NOTES: San Diego State has matched its best start in school history at 31-12 (also 2006) ... The Aztecs now have a single-season school record of 172 walks ... If the season ended today, SDSU would have school records in batting average (.302) and on-base percentage (.401) ... San Diego State improved to 17-5 at home this season and 16-4 in day games ... The Aztecs picked up their eighth shutout of the season ... SDSU improved to 12-2 with nine straight wins in games decided by five or more runs and 4-2 in run-rule games ... San Diego State won its 19th straight game when scoring at least 10 runs (9-0 this year) ... The Aztecs are also now 11-3 when scoring in the first inning, 21-4 when scoring first, 29-4 when leading at any point in the game and 24-2 when outhitting their opponent ... LF Kayla Jordan had her 13th career triple to set an SDSU record ... Jordan recorded her ninth multi-hit game of the season, fifth multi-run game and third multi-RBI game ... 2B Katie Mathis had her 10th multi-hit game of the year, fourth multi-run contest and third multi-RBI game ... Mathis has now reached base successfully in 15 straight games ... 1B Kayla Bufardeci had her seventh multi-hit game of the year ... 3B Leia Ruiz had her 10th multi-hit game of the season and fourth multi-run contest ... CF Patrice Jackson had her team-leading 15th multi-RBI game of the season ... With two RBIs, Jackson now has a team-high 42 for the season, which is tied for the fifth most in SDSU single-season history ... After the weekend series, Jackson is now two RBIs short (131) of the San Diego State career record of 133 and 10th all-time in hits (164) ... DP Sydnee Cable had her sixth multi-RBI game of the season ... LHP Danielle O'Toole won her 23rd game of the season, which is tied for the fifth most in Aztec single-season history ... O'Toole (23-5) also bettered her win percentage school record to .821 (next best is Celena Velasquez' .762 (16-5) in 2004)) ... O'Toole got her 37 career victory to pass Robyn Reid (1983-85) into ninth all-time at SDSU.
San Diego State 12, Utah State 0 (5 innings)
Utah State (17-24, 5-7 MW) 000 00 -- 0 4 1
San Diego State (31-12, 8-4 MW) 205 5x -- 12 14 0
Indreland, Johnson (4) and Larsen; O'Toole, Romero (5) and Orlando
W - O'Toole, 23-5; L - Indreland, 1-4
HR: San Diego State, Ignacio (1)