SAN DIEGO – The No. 23/23 San Diego State softball team returns home for the first time since Opening Day on Tuesday night. The Aztecs will face the California Baptist Lancers beginning at 6 p.m. PT at SDSU Softball Stadium.
San Diego State (12-3) had a good weekend in the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Cathedral City, California. After falling 7-2 to No. 19/19 Oregon on Friday, the Aztecs bounced back and played well the rest of the weekend. SDSU defeated UC Santa Barbara 4-0 and UC Riverside 4-1 on Saturday before taking down Saint Mary’s 6-5 and Hawai’i 8-0 in five innings on Sunday.
California Baptist (7-9) split its four games in Arizona last weekend as part of the ASU/GCU Invitational. CBU lost both its games on Friday, falling 11-0 to No. 3 Florida and 8-1 to Arizona State. The Lancers recovered with 8-2 wins against New Mexico State on Saturday and Portland State on Sunday.
The teams already have five common opponents this season. The Lancers are 2-3 in those games, with a walk-off win over Army and an 11-3 run-rule win over Southern while losing 8-0 to Oklahoma, 4-2 to UC Riverside and 2-1 to Hawai’i. Meanwhile, the Aztecs are 4-1 with the lone defeat coming in nine innings against Oklahoma. SDSU defeated Southern 9-0 in six innings, Army 9-1 in five innings, UC Riverside 4-1 and Hawai’i 8-0 in five innings.
San Diego State holds a 6-1 advantage in the all-time series against the Lancers including wins in the last five meetings. The teams first played in 2019, with the Aztecs earning a 2-1 win at SDSU Softball Stadium on April 23. CBU earned their lone win by a 1-0 score on February 26, 2020, in Riverside. The next year, the teams played a doubleheader at CBU on March 5, with the Aztecs winning both games 5-2 and 2-0. A day later, SDSU trounced California Baptist 11-2 in five innings at SDSU Softball Stadium. San Diego State also won 3-0 during the 2022 Campbell/Cartier Classic and 8-4 on the road in 2023.
Lala Macario (.452 AVG, 5 RBI, 10 R, .500 OBP, 6 SB), Cali Decker (.419 AVG, 14 RBI, 6 R, 5 2B, .535 SLG), Bella Espinoza (.415 AVG, 14 R, .466 OBP, 11 SB), Jazmin Williams (.356 AVG, 8 RBI, 11 R, 7 2B, .511 SLG, 6 SB) and Angie Yellen (.341 AVG, 11 RBI, 1 HR, 1 3B, 10 R) have led the way at the plate for the Aztecs. In the circle, Ava Schaffel (2-0, 17 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 12 K, .155 OBA, 1 CGSO), Grace Uribe (2-0, 29.1 IP, 2.62 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, 22 K, .237 OBA), Cece Cellura (5-2, 28.2 IP, 4.88 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 16 K, .296 OBA, 1 SV) and reigning Mountain West Pitcher of the Week Dee Dee Hernandez (3-1, 25.1 IP, 3.04 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 11 K, .240 OBA, 2 CGSO, 2 SV) are off to good starts.
This weekend, the Aztecs will return to Fullerton, California, where they went 1-1 on the opening weekend of the season. In this weekend’s Judi Garman Classic, SDSU will play Weber State at noon and Notre Dame at 2:30 on Friday. The Aztecs will face the Utah Utes at 5 p.m. on Saturday and Arizona at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday morning before an 11:45 a.m. clash with host Cal State Fullerton that will be broadcast on ESPN+.