April 4, 2014
Sophomore Danielle O'Toole (Upland, Calif.) tossed her second consecutive seven-hit shutout to lead the San Diego State softball team to a 4-0 win over Nevada Friday night at SDSU Softball Stadium. The Aztecs (26-9, 3-1 MW), who are receiving votes in the latest ESPN.com/USA Softball poll, are off to their second-best 35-game start in program history.
O'Toole (19-4) allowed seven hits, all singles, and one walk over seven innings to pick up her fifth solo shutout of the season and sixth overall (also one combined). She struck out five on the game as no Wolf Pack (21-14, 3-4 MW) reached third base. Nevada came into the weekend leading the Mountain West in 10 offensive categories, including batting average (.320), slugging percentage (.491), on-base percentage (.424), runs (229), RBIs (207), doubles (61), triples (10), total bases (430) and walks (146).
SDSU scored all four of its runs in the bottom of the first inning on just one hit, but four walks, a hit batter, a wild pitch and an illegal pitch. Senior Patrice Jackson (Kansas City, Mo.) led off the game with a walk and, one batter later, freshman Sydnee Cable (Huntington Beach, Calif.) was hit by a pitch for the 11th time this season. Each runner advanced a base on a wild pitch and junior Kaitlin Connors (San Diego/La Costa Canyon HS) walked to load the bases for junior Kayla Jordan (San Diego/Bonita Vista HS). Jordan came through with a two-run single through the right side to put San Diego State on the scoreboard.
Junior Hayley Miles (Antelope, Calif.) drew a five-pitch walk to load the bases once again for the Aztecs in the first. Sophomore Kayla Bufardeci (Castro Valley, Calif.) then drove in Connors on a fielder's choice grounder.
Senior Dominique Dinner (Monterey, Calif.) followed with another walk to load the bases for a third time in the inning, prompting Karlyn Jones to relieve starter Megan Dortch. Dortch's second pitch, however, was deemed illegal, which allowed Jordan to score from third and give the game its final run.
SDSU got runners into scoring position in the third, fifth and sixth innings, all with two outs, but was unable to get any insurance runs across the plate. San Diego State was just 1-for-13 (.077) with runners on base and 1-for-6 (.167) with runners in scoring position, but O'Toole was just as good on the other side. The left-hander limited the Wolf Pack to a 2-for-12 (.167) showing with runners on base and a 1-for-4 (.250) mark with runners in scoring position.
Jordan had two of the Aztecs' five hits in the game and would have had a third, but was called out for making contact outside the batter's box. Jackson, meanwhile, reached three times in four plate appearances with an infield single and two walks. Cable reached twice with a walk and a hit batter, while Bufardeci and senior Katie Mathis (Grass Valley, Calif.) had SDSU's other hits in the game.
San Diego State and Nevada are set to play game No. 2 of the weekend series at 1 p.m. PT Saturday.
NOTES: San Diego State improved to 26-9 on the season, which is its second-best 35-game start in school history (27-8 in 2006) ... The Aztecs won for the eighth time in nine games and 15th time in 17 contests ... SDSU won its 24th straight game when leading after five innings (16-0 this season) ... San Diego State also improved to 8-2 this year when scoring in the first inning, 16-3 when scoring first, 24-3 when leading at any point in the game and 23-1 when scoring just four or more runs ... LHP Danielle O'Toole's 19 wins are tied for the ninth most by an Aztec pitcher in school history (Bailey Micetich in 2009) ... LF Kayla Jordan recorded her seventh multi-hit game of the season, second multi-RBI contest, third go-ahead RBI and third game-winning RBI ... RF Patrice Jackson scored her fifth go-ahead run of the season, which is tied for the team lead ... Jackson, who tied for the NCAA lead in walks heading into the week, walked twice more and now has 43 this year in 35 games ... Jackson added one total base on her single and is now just one short of tying Lorena Bauer's career school record of 318 ... Jackson has reached base safely nine straight games, which has matched her season-long streak ... DP Sydnee Cable was hit by a pitch for the 11th time this year, extending her single-season school record (previous best was eight by Amber Grahlman in 2002) ... Cable's 11 times being hit by a pitch are already tied for the second most in SDSU career history ... SDSU improved to 14-3 all-time against Nevada ... The Wolf Pack was shut out for just the third time this year.
San Diego State 4, Nevada 0
Nevada (21-14, 3-4 MW) 000 000 0 -- 0 7 0
San Diego State (26-9, 3-1 MW) 400 000 x -- 4 5 0
Dortch, K. Jones (1) and Butera; O'Toole and Connors
W - O'Toole, 19-4; L - Dortch, 9-7