Softball

Aztec Softball Season in Review

Softball_Year_in_ReviewSoftball_Year_in_Review

San Diego State was off to a 17-11 start, getting ready to play host to defending Mountain West champion Colorado State when the COVID-19 pandemic ultimately canceled the season. Despite the shortened campaign, 2020 would have to be deemed a success.

Below is a look back at SDSU's 2020 season by the numbers:
 

.727San Diego State recorded an 8-3 record at home. The .727 home winning percentage was the best mark by the Aztecs since going 20-6 (.769) in 2014.
.977SDSU finished with a .977 fielding percentage, the best mark in program history (No. 2 is .972 set in 2001).
.994Senior first baseman Taylor Adams finished with a .994 fielding percentage (one error in 180 chances), the fifth-best mark in San Diego State single-season history.
3Junior pitcher Maggie Balint averaged 8.66 strikeouts per seven innings (101 strikeouts in 81 2/3 innings), the third-best mark in Aztec single-season history. Opponents also hit just .188 against her, which ranked fourth in SDSU history.
4Senior Shelby Thompson had four triples, tied for the fifth most in San Diego State single-season history, despite the Aztecs only playing 28 games. Thompson was also hit by a pitch seven times, tied for the second most in single-season history.
5SDSU won the Campbell/Cartier Classic for the fifth time, tied with Long Beach State for the most titles in the 30 years of the tournament.
7San Diego State defeated seven teams who made the 2019 NCAA tournament, posting a 7-4 record (.636) in those games.
8The Aztecs recently added three transfers to the program, making it eight players to transfer to SDSU from a Power 5 school over the last calendar year. The group included Maggie Balint (Oregon), Summer Hargett (Northwestern), Jenna Holcomb (Tennessee), Sara Lillie (Oregon State), Alyssa Pinto (Oregon/Ole Miss), Danielle Romanello (Florida), Alexa Schultz (Oklahoma) and Nicole Siess (Purdue).
12Shelby Thompson became just the 12th player in Mountain West history (since 2000) to earn all-league honors four times and only the second San Diego State player (also Celena Velasquez from 2003-06). Thompson will be coming back for a fifth year in 2021 and will look to become the first player in league history to be named to five all-conference teams.
13Maggie Balint struck out 13 batters in a 3-2 Aztec win over Wisconsin on Feb. 21. The 13 strikeouts were the most by a SDSU player since Rebecca Arbino had 15 vs. Iowa State, March 8, 2013 and tied for the seventh most ever at San Diego State.
21The Aztecs beat Jacksonville, 5-2, in their season opener on Feb. 6 to improve to 21-3 (.875) under head coach Kathy Van Wyk in lid-lifters.
37SDSU was ranked 37th out of 298 schools in the initial RPI, which is a mathematical calculation used to help determine each team's success, using a calculated strength of schedule and won-loss percentage. Since no more games were played after the initial RPI came out on March 8, it ended up being San Diego State's best RPI since finishing the 2010 season at No. 28.
1,164A school-record 1,164 fans attended the Aztecs' game against No. 1/1 UCLA on Feb. 29. The game was tied at 0-0 until the top of the seventh inning when the Bruins scored five runs with two outs en route to a 5-0 victory. The 1,164 eclipsed the previous record of 1,082 set Feb. 28, 2009 vs. No. 4/3 UCLA.




























 Additional Notes* Senior Shelby Thompson, and juniors Taylor Adams and Maggie Balint were all named to the all-Mountain West team. Since no MW games were contested because of the COVID-19 pandemic and because of an unbalanced competitive schedule, there were no awards for the MW Player of the Year, MW Pitcher of the Year, MW Defensive Player of the Year, MW Freshman of the Year and MW Coach of the Year, and there was only one all-MW Team (not a first and second team like recent years).
* Thompson will be coming back for a fifth year along with pitcher Marissa Moreno, while fellow seniors Kristen Parker and Kiera Wright ended their collegiate career.