Sept. 23, 2015
INDIANAPOLIS - San Diego State softball pitcher Erica Romero (Corona, Calif.) recently received an NCAA plaque for recording the most wins in the nation last year. As a sophomore, Romero finished with 36 victories, two more than Brigham Young's Mckenna Bull, North Dakota State's Krista Menke and USC Upstate's Lexi Shubert.
Romero is just the second Aztec in program history to lead the NCAA in a statistical category, joining Samantha Beasley, who tied for the most saves (six) in the country in 2009.
Romero finished the 2015 campaign with a 36-17 record and a 3.29 ERA over 318 2/3 innings. A first-team all-NFCA West Region selection, first-team all-Mountain West pick and four-time MW Pitcher of the Week last year, she also led the NCAA in innings pitched (318.2) and appearances (56). Romero ended up setting four SDSU single-season records in 2015, including wins, appearances, games started (47) and innings pitched.
Romero joins current San Diego State head coach Kathy Van Wyk and associate head coach Stacey Nuveman Deniz as NCAA individual champions. Van Wyk had the most victories during the 1982 season, going 35-1 at Cal State Fullerton, while Nuveman Deniz won six individual titles (home runs, RBIs and total bases in 1999, and batting average, slugging percentage and total bases in 2002) at UCLA.
The Aztecs finished 2015 with a 38-20 record, advancing to the NCAA Regional final for the third time since 2011 and fifth time in 11 tournament trips before being eliminated by UCLA. SDSU, one of just 20 schools in the country to play in a NCAA tournament at least eight consecutive years, finished the year with seven school records, including batting average (.312), slugging percentage (.486), runs (324), home runs (63), RBIs (293), total bases (758) and hits (484).