SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State softball team (15-10) shut out California Baptist (20-9) by an 8-0 score in six innings on Wednesday at SDSU Softball Stadium.
Starter Ava Schaffel faced the minimum in the first inning for SDSU. Matti Severns led off with a single, but Gabriella Terrones caught her stealing second base. The inning finished on a diving catch by Olivia Gigante on a popup. Lala Macario led off with a single for SDSU but was also caught stealing.
In the second inning, Ashlee Annett singled and Sydney Peterson reached on an error for CBU, but Schaffel escaped the inning on a diving catch by Julie Holcomb in center field. The Aztecs pulled ahead in the bottom of the frame when Angie Yellen, Quinn Waiki and Kaila Pollard singled in three straight at bats, with Yellen scoring on Pollard’s hit.
Schaffel retired the side in order in the third inning, her final of the night. Macario bunted for a leadoff single in the bottom of the inning and Jazmin Williams followed her with another single. Macario crossed the plate on a single by Olivia Gigante, but Williams was thrown out going back to second base. Yellen also singled in the inning.
Faith Jordan entered the circle in the fourth inning and started her outing with a strikeout of Makayla Medellin. Following another Annett single, Jordan struck out Malachy Russel-Mille and got an inning-ending groundout. Jordan would not allow another Lancer to reach base in the game. Terrones walked for SDSU in the fourth.
In the fifth, Jordan had two more strikeouts in another 1-2-3 frame. Williams singled to open the bottom half and was bunted into scoring position before moving up to third base on a Gigante single. Waiki drove her in with a single through the left side.
Jordan took care of business in a three up, three down sixth inning. Terrones doubled to begin the bottom of the inning. With one away, Macario singled up the middle and Terrones advanced to third. She crossed the plate on a single to left by Williams. Jade Ignacio followed with a single to shortstop, but a poor throw allowed everyone to move up an extra base with Macario scoring. Then, Gigante singled back up the middle, driving in Williams and Ignacio to make it 7-0. Yellen was hit by a pitch and Andrea Tall, running for Gigante, moved up to third on a fly ball, the second out of the inning. Pollard hit a ground ball to first base that was booted by Russel-Mille, allowing Tall to score and Pollard to beat her throw back to the base to finish the game on a walk-off error.
THE NOTE
The majority of San Diego State’s games this season have either been decided by the run rule or gone to extra innings. SDSU improves to 6-3 across nine run-rule games. The Aztecs are 3-1 in extra-inning games compared to 6-6 in seven-inning games.
UP NEXT
San Diego State opens up its final season of Mountain West play this weekend with a home series against Colorado State. Games are scheduled for 6 p.m. on Friday, 4 p.m. on Saturday and noon on Sunday. Saturday’s game will be broadcast on Mountain West Network.
San Diego State 8, California Baptist 0
California Baptist (20-9) 000 000 – 0 3 2
San Diego State (14-10) 011 015 – 8 16 1
W – Jordan, 7-2; L – De Nava, 5-6
HR: None