SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State softball team (13-10) trailed 4-0 after the first inning against Notre Dame (9-14) and rallied the rest of the game but couldn’t complete the comeback, falling 4-3 to the Fighting Irish at SDSU Softball Stadium.
For Notre Dame, Mickey Winchell walked to begin the game. Ava Zachary bunted to move her to second base. Winchell moved up to third base on a passed ball. Sydny Poeck walked. The Aztecs recorded the second out of the inning on a ground ball to second base when Lala Macario threw home to retire Winchell. Caroline O’Brien walked to load the bases. Then, Olivia Levitt singled through the left side to score a run. Kaia Cortes followed her with a bases-clearing double to left to extend Notre Dame’s lead to four. Cortes advanced to third base on a wild pitch and Avery Houlihan walked. Stacey Nuveman Deniz went to her bullpen, bringing in Key-annah Pu’a. She induced an inning-ending grounder back to the circle on the first pitch she threw.
In the second inning, Winchell and Zachary reached on a single and a fielder’s choice to open things up. Following a groundout to move the runners into scoring position, Rebecca Eckart flew out to Kiara Cisneros in right field. Winchell tried to score on the play, but Cisneros threw her out at home to end the inning.
An inning later, Cortes reached on an error following a replay review by the umpire crew. The next hitter, Houlihan doubled to left but Cortes was thrown out at home trying to score on the play on a relay from Jazmin Williams to Quinn Waiki to Jade Ignacio to end the inning. The Fighting Irish challenged that play as well but the call was confirmed. Olivia Gigante led off the bottom of the inning for San Diego State and homered deep to left to get the Aztecs on the board.
Pu’a retired the side in order in both the fourth and fifth innings. The SDSU bats kept pecking away at the Notre Dame lead. Williams led off in the fourth inning and singled. Kaila Pollard bunted her into scoring position. Jade Ignacio singled to center field and advanced to second base on the throw. Williams scored on a fielder’s choice when Yellen bunted to first base. Yellen later moved up to second base, leaving two runners in scoring position but both were stranded. Kiara Cisneros led off with a single in the fifth inning and was able to advance up to third base with one out but could not cross the plate.
In the sixth inning, Pu’a worked around a two-out single. Pollard opened the bottom of the inning by reaching on a dropped third strike. Jade Ignacio singled through the left side and Yellen bunted both runners into scoring position. Waiki hit an infield single to load the bases with one out. Gigante hit a sacrifice fly to right and pinch runner Mia Rodriguez scored from third to bring the Aztecs within a run.
Zachary doubled in the seventh inning, but Pu’a was able to prevent her from scoring. Lala Macario walked with one out in the seventh and pinch runner Andrea Tall moved into scoring position as the tying run but was left there as a strikeout ended the ballgame.
THE NOTE
Olivia Gigante joins Mac Barbara as the only Aztecs to hit at least six home runs in non-conference play during the last nine seasons (2018-2026). Both players wore the number 31 jersey and primarily played first base. Barbara hit six homers in non-conference play in 2024 and ten in 2022.
UP NEXT
San Diego State finishes up the San Diego Classic against Princeton at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday. The team will be signing autographs following the game
Notre Dame 4, San Diego State 3
Notre Dame (9-14) 400 000 0 – 4 6 0
San Diego State (12-9) 001 101 0 – 3 6 1
W – Weiss, 4-5; L – Kwarta, 5-3; S – Kastor, 1
HR: Gigante, SDSU (6)