SAN DIEGO -- San Diego State bounced back from a 1-0 defeat in the opener to down UNLV, 7-6, in 10 innings in the nightcap for a doubleheader split Saturday at SDSU Softball Stadium.
In the 7-6 victory, the Aztecs (14-8, 2-3 MW) took advantage of a pair of Rebel (15-9, 4-1 MW) errors in the bottom of the 10th. Taylor Adams first reached on a one-out error by third baseman Lauryn Barker before getting forced out at second base on a fielder's choice by Shelby Thompson. Danielle Romanello worked the count to 3-2 before hitting a long fly ball to UNLV center fielder Lauren Tycksen. Tycksen tracked the ball to the warning track, but the ball bounced off her glove. Thompson, who was running the whole way with two outs, easily scored to give SDSU the win.
The game was a back-and-forth affair with each team holding two-run leads throughout most of the play.
After only managing three hits in the opener, the Rebels started the nightcap with four consecutive singles, including back-to-back RBI hits by Justine Federe and Denise Armendariz.
Each team left a pair of runners on base in their next at-bats until San Diego State tied the game in the bottom of the second. Alexa Schultz led off with a double and moved to third on a single by Riley Thies. Thies quickly stole second base before Nicole Siess singled to center field to score both runners. Siess got to third on a groundout by Makena Brocki and Adams moved into scoring position on a walk and stolen base, but relief pitcher Jenna Perez got Thompson to pop up back to her in the circle and Romanello to strike out swinging to get out of the jam.
UNLV broke the short-lived tie in the third on a pinch-hit two-run single by Jasmine Martin.
Schultz halved the Rebel lead in the third on a two-out, solo home run. It was her team-leading fifth homer of the season.
The Aztecs took the lead for the first time in the fourth as Adams and Thompson each had one-out infield singles, and moved up a base on a passed ball. After Romanello struck out swinging, Langlet walked to load the bases. Celis followed with a single that bounced off the glove of Perez in the circle and allowed both Adams and Thompson to score. Schultz and Thies each drew walks on 3-2 counts with the latter scoring Langlet to make it a 6-4 SDSU lead.
It appeared the San Diego State would escape with a 6-4 win, but UNLV tied it in the seventh when a double by Armendariz plated a pair of runs. Aztec pitcher Maggie Balint got out of the jam by striking out Mia Trejo swinging and getting Janyssa Martin to foul out to Brocki behind the plate.
Neither team got a runner on base again until the bottom of the ninth when Celis walked for SDSU and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Schultz. Thies, however, lined out to third base and Siess grounded out to third base to move the game into the 10th.
Trejo reached on a fielding error by San Diego State and Martin followed with a long fly to right field. Thies was able to run the ball down, throw it to Celis to Adams to double up Trejo and give the Aztecs momentum, setting up the game-winning score in the bottom of the 10th by Thompson.
Thompson (2 R, 2B, BB), Schultz (HR, 2 R, RBI, 2B, BB) and Celis (2 RBI) each had two hits apiece to lead SDSU, while Adams singled and walked.
Balint (9-3) picked up the win after allowing two runs on two hits and a walk in six innings of relief, striking out four. Marissa Moreno started the game and yielded four runs on seven hits and a walk over 2 1/3 innings, while striking out two. Hannah Johnson pitched a scoreless 1 2/3 innings of relief with one hit allowed and a strikeout before giving way to Balint.
The opener featured a pitchers' duel between Balint from San Diego State and Jenna Bressler from the Rebels.
Balint gave up one run on just three infield singles and three walks over the complete game, striking out four. Bressler (8-5), meanwhile, tossed a complete game shutout with five singles and two walks allowed, matching Balint with four strikeouts in a game that lasted only 1 hour, 31 minutes.
The lone run of the game came in the top of the fourth when Federe led off with a walk, moved to second on a wild pitch and to third on an infield single by Trejo. Martin followed and hit a chopper to Thompson at second base. Thompson tagged Trejo but her throw to Adams at first was late and was wide, which allowed Federe to score the eventual game-winning run.
Thies was 2-for-2 to lead the Aztecs, while Romanello reached twice via walks.
THE NOTE
SDSU left 12 runners on base in the nightcap today, its second most in a game this season (13 vs. Saint Mary's on March 14).
THE NOTE II
The opener only lasted 1 hour, 31 minutes, San Diego State's shortest game this season. The nightcap, meanwhile, was almost twice as long at 3 hours, 1 minute, the Aztecs' second-longest game of the season (3:42 vs. Saint Mary's on March 14).
STAT OF THE DAY
Two of the last three meetings between SDSU and UNLV have gone extra innings, including a 17-inning affair on March 31, 2019 and today's 10-inning tilt (last season's series was canceled because of the COVID pandemic).
UP NEXT
The rubber game of the series between San Diego State and the Rebels is set for noon PT Sunday.
Game 1: UNLV 1, San Diego State 0
UNLV 000 100 0 -- 1 3 0
San Diego State 000 000 0 -- 0 5 1
Bressler and Vollmer; Balint and Romanello
W - Bressler, 8-4; L - Balint, 8-3
Game 2: San Diego State 7, UNLV 6 (10 innings)
UNLV (15-9, 4-1 MW) 202 000 200 0 -- 6 10 2
San Diego State (14-8, 2-3 MW) 021 300 000 1 -- 7 9 1
Masterson, Perez (2), Masterson (5), Bressler (7) and Vollmer; Moreno, Johnson (3), Balint (5) and Langlet, Romanello (5)
W - Balint, 9-3; L - Bressler, 8-5
HR: San Diego State, Schultz (5)
SDSU Softball Splits Doubleheader with UNLV
