SAN DIEGO -- San Diego State welcomes Minnesota to SDSU Softball Stadium Tuesday night in another matchup for the Aztecs (13-7) against a team that made the 2022 NCAA tournament. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. PT.
SDSU's game against the Golden Gophers (11-8) will be its 12th of the season against a NCAA tournament team from a year ago (San Diego State is 5-6 in those games so far).
The Aztecs are hitting .309 as a team and are led by Bella Espinoza's .400 average. Espinoza also paces SDSU in runs (17), hits (28) and stolen bases, going 11-for-11 on the season. Jillian Celis is batting .369 and has a team-high 15 RBIs, while ranking second in runs (12), on-base percentage (.425) and slugging percentage (.508). Taylor Okada (.351), Macey Keester (.340, 9 R, 10 RBI, 5 SB) and Cali Decker (.340, 1 HR, 8 RBI. .460 OB%) are also hitting over .333 for San Diego State, while Mac Barbara's (.304) three home runs lead the team.
Four Aztecs have logged at least 25 innings in the circle and have combined for five shutouts in their 13 wins. Sarah Lehman (6-1, 1.62 ERA, 34.2 IP), Dani Martinez (3-2, 2.18 ERA, 25.2 IP), Allie Light (1-4, 2.20 ERA, 5 SV, 35.0 IP) and Dee Dee Hernandez (2-0, 2.80 ERA, 3 SV, 30.0 IP) have done the bulk of the pitching for SDSU.
San Diego State is 5-6 all-time against Minnesota, including wins in its last two meetings in 2007 (1-0) and 2018 (6-2).
The Golden Gophers are hitting .272 with two players over .400 in Taylor Krapf (.417, 8 HR, 20 RBI) and Breezy Burnett (.409). Autumn Pease (7-3, 1.33 ERA, 68.1 IP) and Jacie Hambrick (4-3, 2.62 ERA, 40.0 IP) pace a pitching staff that has a 2.52 ERA with one shutout.
Following the game with Minnesota, the Aztecs will compete in the Louisville Slugger Classic in their final non-conference tournament of the season. SDSU will play at Long Beach State at 5:30 p.m. PT Thursday, before heading to Cal State Fullerton for games against South Dakota (12:30 p.m. PT) and Weber State (3 p.m. PT) on Friday, and Columbia at 12:30 p.m. PT Saturday.