SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State softball team is back in action this weekend with a three-game series against the Nevada Wolf Pack in Reno, Nevada. The teams are scheduled to play at 3 p.m. on Thursday and Friday and 12 p.m. on Saturday. All three games will be broadcast on the Mountain West Network.
SDSU (21-10, 5-1) holds a 34-14 lead in the all-time series against Nevada (24-8, 2-1). San Diego State defeated the Wolf Pack in the MW Tournament in each of the last two seasons. The Aztecs have won seven of the ten total meetings between the teams since Stacey Nuveman Deniz took over ahead of the 2022 season.
Last week, the Aztecs played four times, all at SDSU Softball Stadium. SDSU dominated San Diego, scoring ten times in the first three innings and allowing just two infield singles in a 10-0 win in five innings on Wednesday night. SDSU kept up the nice play in a weekend sweep of New Mexico, allowing just three runs across three games. Jade Ignacio was the star of the week, hitting .750 with a 2.083 OPS, and finished the week with a cycle, tallying five singles, two doubles, a triple and her first career home run.
The Wolf Pack have some familiar faces to Aztec fans on their coaching staff. New Nevada Head Coach Victoria Hayward was an assistant on The Mesa in 2022 and 2023 while assistant coach Delanie Wisz was a volunteer assistant for SDSU in 2023 before a promotion to assistant coach last season. Another of Hayward’s assistants, Jillian Celis, was a star infielder for SDSU from 2020-23 and a two-time All-Mountain West selection.
San Diego State has fared very well in Mountain West play during Stacey Nuveman Deniz’s tenure as head coach. In 2022, the team went 20-4 during conference play to win the Mountain West title. The next year, SDSU finished with a 16-6 Mountain West record, finishing a half game shy of another championship, however the team went 3-0 in the conference tournament to win that title. A season ago, the Aztecs won both MW championships, going 15-7 during the regular season and 3-0 in the tournament. After two weeks this year, SDSU is tied for first place with Fresno State.
Cece Cellura (3.06 ERA, 41 Ks, 5.86 K:BB, 1.24 WHIP, 66.1 IP) has pitched well this season as have Grace Uribe (3.56 ERA, 39 Ks, 57.0 IP) and freshman Ava Schaffel (0.91 ERA, 19 Ks, 30.2 IP), who began her career with 18.1 scoreless innings. Cali Decker (1.187 OPS, .496 OBP, .415 BA, 26 RBI, 16 R, 4 HR, 12 2B, 1 3B), Shannon Cunningham (.921 OPS, 4 HR, 23 RBI, 16 R, 9 2B), Uribe (.952 OPS, 3 HR, 16 RBI, 13 R, 5 2B), Bella Espinoza (.781 OPS, .412 OBP, 10 RBI, 25 R, 17 SB, 2 2B) and Angie Yellen (.856 OPS, 3 HR, 17 RBI, 20 R, 2 2B, 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.