SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State softball team returns to The Mesa this week for four games, the first of which will be against the San Diego Toreros at 6 p.m. on Wednesday night at SDSU Softball Stadium.
SDSU (17-10) and USD (14-16) will play just the one game this season. The Aztecs are 59-7 in the all-time series against the Toreros. San Diego State won 8-2 last season and earned a victory in five of the teams’ six meetings since 2021. The teams have been scheduled to play every year since 2018 and this is the ninth year in the last ten that the teams have been set to face off.
The two teams have faced six common opponents this season. The Aztecs won two of three games at Utah State while the Toreros lost three of the four times they played the Aggies. San Diego won two of their three contests against California Baptist while San Diego State played the Lancers once, winning 6-2. The Toreros have played Mountain West opponents eight times this season and lost their first six before bouncing back to win the last two games vs. the MW. SDSU is 1-0 against the WCC with a win over Saint Mary’s.
Last weekend, the Aztecs were in Logan, Utah, for a three-game series at Utah State to begin conference play. On Friday, Cali Decker and Angie Yellen each homered and Decker had four RBIs in a 13-8 win to begin the series. They started the second game afterwards and Decker homered again to help the Aztecs to a 7-4 advantage before the game was suspended due to lack of light. After taking Saturday off, play resumed Sunday morning and SDSU held on for an 8-6 victory. The teams played again afterwards and the Aztecs scored three times to tie the game at four in the seventh inning but the Aggies got a walk-off home run by Grace Matej after a controversial call at home plate.
San Diego State has been successful in midweek games. The Aztecs won 6-2 against California Baptist in their lone one so far this year. SDSU has won its last two Wednesday games and last four Tuesday contests.
Cece Cellura (3.54 ERA, 37 Ks, 7.40 K:BB, 1.20 WHIP, 57.1 IP) has pitched well this season as have Grace Uribe (3.68 ERA, 36 Ks, 51.1 IP) and freshman Ava Schaffel (0.82 ERA, 16 Ks, 25.2 IP), who began her career with 18.1 scoreless innings. Decker is the reigning MW Player of the Week and (1.243 OPS, .520 OBP, .446 BA, 22 RBI, 13 R, 4 HR, 11 2B) Shannon Cunningham (.866 OPS, 3 HR, 18 RBI, 13 R, 8 2B), Jazmin Williams (.804 OPS, 1 HR, 14 RBI, 16 R, 7 2B, 1 3B), Uribe (.981 OPS, 3 HR, 16 RBI, 13 R, 5 2B), Bella Espinoza (.798 OPS, .420 OBP, 8 RBI, 22 R, 13 SB, 2 2B) and Yellen (.882 OPS, 3 HR, 16 RBI, 18 R, 1 3B) have all been regulars in the Aztec lineup and contributed significantly to the offense. Defensively, Quinn Waiki has been making flashy plays all season long.