SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State softball team (19-15, 4-5 Mountain West) returns home this weekend from a two-week road trip for a three-game series against Utah State (14-20, 3-6 MW) from Thursday through Saturday.
The games on Thursday and Friday nights are scheduled to start at 6 p.m. PT and the series finale is planned for noon PT on Saturday. The games on Thursday and Saturday will be streamed on the Mountain West Network.
SDSU is 31-14 against Utah State all-time. This decade, the Aztecs and Aggies have played a three-game series in every season except 2020 and each time, San Diego State won two of the three games for a record of 10-5. Since Utah State joined the Mountain West for the 2014 season, SDSU is 22-11 and has won nine of the 11 series between the teams. The two teams do not have any common opponents so far this season.
Last week, San Diego State played a three-game series at New Mexico but due to high winds in the Albuquerque area, the teams played twice on Saturday and once on Sunday instead of once each day from Friday through Sunday. The delay had a negative impact on San Diego State, who fell 9-5 in the first game on Sunday and 7-4 in the second game of the doubleheader. After the Lobos hit a two-run home run in the first inning to go ahead on Sunday, SDSU took over and controlled the remainder of the game to win 10-3. The Aztecs scored a run in the third inning. In the fourth, Olivia Gigante tied the game with a home run before SDSU went ahead later in the inning. The Scarlet and Black added on with a Kaila Pollard homer in the fifth and the team scored four times in the sixth inning, three of which crossed the plate on a Pollard triple. SDSU countered the Lobos’ run in the bottom of the sixth with one more in the seventh inning for good measure. Ava Schaffel was the star in the circle, winning MW Pitcher of the Week after allowing just two runs on four hits across 9.2 innings while striking out five including throwing the final six innings on Sunday to get the win. Pollard had a big series at the plate, hitting .889 with a 3.122 OPS. She only got out once the entire weekend and tallied 20 total bases with two of each kind of hit.
Two-time MW Player of the Week Jade Ignacio (.417, 1.050 OPS, 4 HR, 30 RBI, 20 R, 9 2B, 5 SB) and Jazmin Williams (.381, 1.091 OPS, 8 HR, 27 RBI, 28 R, 5 SB) lead the Aztec hitters. Other top hitters for SDSU include Angie Yellen (.383, .937 OPS, 17 RBI, 17 R, 3 HR, 4 2B, 3 SB), Olivia Gigante (.276, .887 OPS, 8 HR, 25 RBI, 13 R, 3 2B), Kaila Pollard (.345, 1.071 OPS, 15 RBI, 9 XBH) and Quinn Waiki (.346, .877 OPS, 12 RBI, 11 R, 8 2B). In the circle, Faith Jordan (3.26 ERA, 66.2 IP, 54 K, 8-4, 1 SV) and Ava Schaffel (3.43 ERA, 34.2 IP, 25 K, 2-0) have been major contributors to the pitching staff. Key-annah Pu’a (3.61 ERA, 64.0 IP, 26 K, 4-5, 1 SV) was selected as MW Pitcher of the Week on Feb. 16.