CLEARWATER, FLA. – After a pair of big wins on Friday, San Diego State softball was back in action on Saturday in the Shriners Children’s Clearwater Invitational Presented by EvoShield. SDSU faced No. 16/16 Missouri at 1:30 p.m. ET (10:30 a.m. PT). The Aztecs scored first and went up 4-1 after three innings on their way to a 5-2 win over the ranked Tigers. In its second game of the day, San Diego State battled Virginia. SDSU led 5-0 after four innings and hung on for a 6-2 win to improve to 4-0 on the weekend.
The San Diego State (7-2) offense put together a two-out rally in the second inning against the Tigers (6-5). Jade Ignacio doubled and advanced to third when Julie Holcomb bunted for a single. Holcomb stole second and the catcher, Julia Crenshaw, threw the ball away, allowing Ignacio to score from third while Holcomb took Ignacio’s spot on third base. An inning-ending groundout prevented the second run from scoring. Missouri put together a two-out rally of its own in the bottom of the inning. A pair of walks set the table for Madison Uptegrove, who doubled to left center field. The first run came around to score but a fantastic relay from Bella Espinoza to Quinn Waiki to Cali Decker gunned Stefania Abruscato down at home to end the inning with a 1-1 score.
SDSU responded in the third. With one out, Grace Uribe singled to right center and Decker followed it up with a single of her own to put runners on the corners for Angie Yellen. Yellen took advantage of the opportunity and tripled into the gap in right center field to score Uribe and Yellen. Missouri pulled starting pitcher Courtney Donahue in favor of Cierra Harrison. Lala Macario welcomed Harrison with a single back up the middle to bring in Yellen from third. Waiki singled for the Aztecs’ fifth straight hit, but the inning ended without another run crossing the plate.
In the bottom of the fourth, Taylor Ebbs led off with a double for Missouri and moved up to third on a wild pitch. Mya Dodge hit an RBI single to left and Abruscato singled to put two on. Dee Dee Hernandez entered in relief of Uribe, who allowed two runs in three innings. After a foul popout, Uptegrove lined the ball into shallow center field, but Jazmin Williams made a diving catch to rob her of an RBI extra-base hit. A walk loaded the bases, but Hernandez coaxed a ground ball to Yellen at third to end the frame.
For the second straight day, Ignacio legged out a single to shortstop, this time to lead off the sixth inning. Mia Rodriguez ran for her. Following a pitch to Holcomb, Crenshaw, Missouri’s catcher overthrew first base when checking on Rodriguez and the ball rolled into the right field corner, allowing Rodriguez to come all the way around from first to score. In the bottom half of the inning, Abruscato doubled with one out. After Hernandez got a lineout to left, an infield single put runners on the corners and a walk loaded the bases, bringing the go-ahead run to the plate for Missouri. Cece Cellura came in to pitch and coaxed a popup to second to end the inning.
Cellura stayed on for the seventh. After she struck out the leadoff hitter, Kara Daly singled. Cellura retired the next two hitters to end the game with another ranked win for San Diego State, this time with a 5-2 final.
In the second game, the Aztec offense got going in the second inning as well. Decker led off with a single. She advanced on a fielder’s choice and stole third base. Macario bunted for a single but was caught stealing at second base. Waiki continued her phenomenal day with an RBI single to score Decker.
Schaffel pitched the first three innings for the Aztecs. She allowed just one hit and one walk over three scoreless innings. She is now up to 11 scoreless innings to begin her Aztec career after throwing eight scoreless last weekend.
The Aztecs batted around in the fourth to expand their lead. Uribe led off with a double to left center. Rodriguez ran for her and moved to third on a wild pitch. She scored on an error again, this time on a Decker ground ball that was misplayed by second baseman Macee Eaton. Ally Dueker ran for Decker and moved up 60 feet on a Yellen bunt single. Both runners advanced on a Macario groundout to first base. Ignacio grounded to second and the inning appeared over, but shortstop Jade Hylton threw the ball away and both runners scored while Ignacio moved to second. Holcomb singled to put runners on the corners for Bella Espinoza, who bunted for a single, scoring Ignacio from third and extending the Aztec lead to 5-0. Cellura entered the circle in the bottom of the inning and retired the side in order.
The Cavaliers (4-5) got on the board in the fifth. Sydney Hartgrove led off with a double. M.C. Eaton doubled to left but was gunned down trying to turn it into a triple on another great relay by the Aztecs. Holcomb threw it to Waiki, who fired to Yellen at third. Cellura got the next two hitters out to end the inning without any more damage.
SDSU tacked on another run an inning later. With one out, Shannon Cunningham entered as a pinch hitter and doubled to right. Kiara Cisneros also entered off the bench and followed it up with a single to center to score Cunningham from second. Espinoza singled as well but a double play ended the inning. In the latter half of the inning, Cellura got the first two hitters out before a two-base error put a runner in scoring position with two outs. She responded with a strikeout of Macee Eaton to end the inning.
The bottom of the seventh began with a diving catch in right field by Cisneros. Cellura struck out the next hitter. The Cavaliers stayed alive with a triple to right by M.C. Eaton. Alex Call singled through the left to score Eaton from third. Cellura induced a groundout to third from the next hitter to end the game.
THE NOTE
With Friday’s win over No. 14/12 Alabama and Saturday’s win over No. 16/16 Missouri, San Diego State earned wins over multiple ranked teams in the same weekend for the first time since beating No. 10/9 Arizona and No. 3/2 Northwestern on February 22, 2008, in the Palm Springs Classic.
UP NEXT
SDSU wraps up the weekend against Charlotte at 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT) on Sunday.
San Diego State 5, No. 16/16 Missouri 2
San Diego State (6-2) 013 001 0 – 5 9 0
Missouri (6-5) 010 100 0 – 2 8 3
W – Hernandez, 1-1; L – Donahue, 0-1; S – Cellura (1)
HR: None
San Diego State 6, Virginia 2
San Diego State (7-2) 010 401 0 – 6 10 1
Virginia (4-5) 000 010 1 – 2 5 2
W – Cellura, 3-1; L – Hodges, 0-1
HR: None