Aztecs Begin 2022 Campaign by Hosting San Diego State Season Kickoff
The San Diego State softball team begins the Stacey Nuveman Deniz head coaching era this weekend when it hosts the four-day, six-team, 15-game San Diego State Season Kickoff at SDSU Softball Stadium.
The Aztecs will play Middle Tennessee at 6 p.m. PT Thursday, UIC (4:30 p.m. PT) and Stanford (7 p.m. PT) on Friday, UIC at 7 p.m. PT Saturday and Cal Poly at 2 p.m. PT Sunday.
It will the first five games for Stacey Nuveman Deniz, who took over for SDSU's all-time winningest coach Kathy Van Wyk last June. Nuveman Deniz has spent the last 13 years alongside Van Wyk as an assistant, associate head coach and head coach in waiting, helping San Diego State to seven NCAA tournament appearances and three Mountain West championships over that stretch.
The Aztecs return three all-MW players from a year ago in pitcher Maggie Balint (17-8, 2.18 ERA, 2 SV, 7.5 SV, 137 K, .212 avg.), first baseman Taylor Adams (.283, 2 HR, 16 RBI, 20 R, 17 BB, 9-for-9 SB) and shortstop Jillian Celis (.317, 2 HR, 25 RBI, 20 R, 13 2B, .453 SLG%).
SDSU, which has won a league-best seven regular-season titles, enters the 2022 campaign as the co-favorites to win the MW championship with UNLV.
Last year, San Diego State finished with a 28-16 record, its best winning percentage (.636) since the 2015 squad went 38-20 (.655) before falling in the NCAA Los Angeles Regional final to UCLA. It was also the ninth-best record in program history.
The Aztecs' three combined games on Thursday and Friday will be broadcast live on the Mountain West Network (https://goaztecs.com/watch/).
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Aztecs Begin 2022 Campaign with Home Tournament
