SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State softball team (13-9) led 4-0 after six innings but ultimately fell 5-4 to Wisconsin (14-7) on Thursday night at SDSU Softball Stadium in the Aztecs’ opening game of the San Diego Classic tournament.
Key-annah Pu’a started in the circle for the Aztecs and opened the game with a 1-2-3 inning. In the second, the Badgers had a pair of singles, but Pu’a struck out Addison Wery to end the inning without a run crossing the plate. Jade Ignacio doubled in the bottom of the inning and moved up to third base but could not score.
In the third inning, Pu’a retired the side in order on a trio of groundouts to Quinn Waiki at shortstop. Julie Holcomb reached on an infield single in the bottom of the inning but was caught stealing.
An inning later, Pu’a faced the minimum for the third time in the ballgame. Jazmin Williams led off with a single in the bottom of the inning and Kaila Pollard bunted her into scoring position. Ignacio also walked in the inning.
The Fresno State transfer threw another three up, three down inning in the fifth, her fourth of the game. San Diego State struck first in the latter half of the frame. Julie Holcomb bunted for a single with two outs. Lala Macario followed her with an infield single of her own. Williams drove in both runners with a triple to right field.
Wisconsin had two more singles in the sixth, but Kiara Cisneros made a stellar catch in right field on a line drive to end the inning without a run scored for the Badgers. Angie Yellen bunted for an infield single to begin the bottom of the frame. On a night where the wind was blowing in, Olivia Gigante flexed her power with a homer to left field to double the SDSU lead to four runs.
A day after throwing a no-hitter, Faith Jordan entered the game to try and close out Wisconsin. She appeared to strike out Danielle Lucey to begin the inning, but an illegal pitch was called, which kept the at bat alive. Lucey ended up reaching base when she was hit by a pitch. The next two hitters, Makenzie Foster and Jackie Showalter, each hit RBI doubles. The Aztecs caught pinch runner Rylie Crane stealing and Jordan got Wery to fly out. Jordan got two quick strikes on Hannah Conger, bringing the Aztecs within a strike of victory. Conger singled to third to keep the game alive. Jordan quickly moved ahead 0-2 on the next hitter, Emily Bojan, before a triple to right field scored Conger and pulled the Badgers within a run. Once more, the Aztecs were a strike away, but Hilary Blomberg flicked a single to left to bring in Bojan and tie the game. Pu’a reentered the game in the circle to face Kendra Lewis. She doubled to center but a nice relay from Holcomb to Macario to Yellen retired her trying to stretch it into a triple, ending the inning. However, Blomberg crossed the plate to score the go-ahead run before Lewis was thrown out. The Aztec bats were unable to mount much opposition to Berritt Herr in the bottom of the inning, ending the game with a 5-4 win for Wisconsin.
THE NOTE
Jazmin Williams extended her hitting streak to seven games, matching her career high.
UP NEXT
San Diego State will continue the San Diego Classic against Notre Dame at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday and wraps up the weekend facing Princeton at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday.
Wisconsin 5, San Diego State 4
Wisconsin (13-8) 000 000 5 – 5 10 0
San Diego State (12-9) 000 022 0 – 4 8 0
W – Herr, 7-4; L – Jordan, 5-2
HR: Gigante, SDSU (5)