April 6, 2014
SAN DIEGO -
SDSU 3, NEVADA 1 | VIDEO REPLAY
The San Diego State softball team completed a three-game series sweep with a 3-1 victory over Nevada Sunday afternoon at SDSU Softball Stadium. The Aztecs, who are receiving votes in the latest ESPN.com/USA Softball poll, have matched their best start in school history at 28-9 and are alone in first place in Mountain West play at 5-1.
SDSU got on the scoreboard first in the bottom of the second inning when senior Katie Mathis (Grass Valley, Calif.) laced a two-out double down the left field line to score sophomore Kayla Bufardeci (Castro Valley, Calif.).
San Diego State tacked on two insurance runs in the fifth. Mathis led off with a single to third base, followed by a single to center field by senior Dominique Dinner (Monterey, Calif.). Each runner moved up a base on a sacrifice bunt by sophomore Leia Ruiz (Chino, Calif.), before senior Patrice Jackson's (Kansas City, Mo.) sacrifice fly scored Mathis with the eventual game-winning run. Junior Kayla Jordan (San Diego/Bonita Vista HS) followed with a single to left field to plate Dinner with the Aztecs' final run of the game.
The Wolf Pack (21-16, 3-6 MW) answered in the sixth when Erin Jones led off with a double and Nikki Orozco followed with a double. SDSU sophomore Danielle O'Toole (Upland, Calif.), however, retired the next three batters with a popout, strikeout and groundout.
O'Toole (20-4) picked up her 20th win of the season after allowing one run on six hits, a walk and a hit batter over seven innings, while striking out eight. The left-hander ended up stranding seven runners, limiting Nevada to a .154 average (2-for-13) with runners on base and a .200 (2-for-10) mark with runners in scoring position. The Wolf Pack 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).
Bufardeci and Mathis each had two hits and a run to pace San Diego State, which outhit Nevada, 7-6. Dinner, Jordan and Miles had the other hits for the Aztecs.
SDSU heads to Fresno State for a three-game series, beginning Friday at 6 p.m. PT.
San Diego State 3, Nevada 1
Nevada (21-16, 3-6 MW) 000 001 0 -- 1 6 1
San Diego State (28-9, 5-1 MW) 010 020 x -- 3 7 0
K. Jones and Butera; O'Toole and Connors
W - O'Toole, 20-4; L - K. Jones, 5-5