SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State softball team heads to Fort Collins, Colorado, this weekend, for a two-game series against the Colorado State Rams. The teams are scheduled to play at 1 p.m. MT/noon PT on Saturday and an hour earlier on Sunday. Both games will be broadcast on the Mountain West Network.
SDSU (23-13, 7-4) enters the weekend with the second most conference wins in the Mountain West but in fourth place behind Fresno State (8-3), Nevada (6-2) and Utah State (6-2). Meanwhile, Colorado State (13-22, 3-8) sits in seventh place.
San Diego State leads 71-42 in the all-time series against Colorado State. SDSU swept the three-game series last season and in 2022, giving it a 7-2 record against CSU under Stacey Nuveman Deniz. The Aztecs have won nine of the 12 games since the canceled 2020 campaign. In the Mountain West era, SDSU is 58-23 against the Rams in the regular season and 59-25 overall.
On Wednesday, the Aztecs hosted a doubleheader against Fresno State at SDSU Softball Stadium. A two-run home run by Grace Uribe was enough offense for Cece Cellura and Dee Dee Hernandez in the first game as the Aztecs earned a 2-1 victory to tie Fresno State for first place. The second game was scoreless after four innings, but the offenses woke up and combined for ten runs over the final three innings as Fresno State emerged victorious 7-3.
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. So far this year, SDSU’s seven MW wins are second most in the league.
Cece Cellura allowed just one run in 10.2 innings with ten strikeouts last weekend while pitching in a pair of 1-0 games to be named the Mountain West Co-Pitcher of the Week. Cellura (2.84 ERA, 55 Ks, 6.22 K:BB, 1.30 WHIP, 83.2 IP) has pitched well this season as have Grace Uribe (3.21 ERA, 44 Ks, 65.1 IP) and freshman Ava Schaffel (1.29 ERA, 23 Ks, 32.2 IP), who began her career with 18.1 scoreless innings. Cali Decker (1.168 OPS, .508 OBP, .398 BA, 27 RBI, 16 R, 4 HR, 13 2B, 1 3B), Shannon Cunningham (.807 OPS, 4 HR, 23 RBI, 16 R, 9 2B), Uribe (.886 OPS, 4 HR, 18 RBI, 14 R, 5 2B), Bella Espinoza (.750 OPS, .397 OBP, 10 RBI, 28 R, 17 SB, 2 2B) and Angie Yellen (.814 OPS, 3 HR, 17 RBI, 20 R, 3 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.