March 16, 2014
San Jose, Calif. - A solid pitching performance by freshman Katelyn Linford and a four-run fourth inning led to the San José State University softball team's 4-1 win over Princeton on Sunday.
The Tigers (2-9) jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on an RBI-single in the first inning, which they held for the next three frames, holding the Spartans to one at bat over the minimum.
But in the bottom of the fourth, San José State (15-11) outpaced Princeton's pitching staff. The team pushed across four runs on five hits, all with no outs.
The team's third batter, Jessie Hufstetler's hopping single down the left field line plated Michelle Cox, knotting the game, 1-1. In the next at bat, Sharon-Renae Estrada drove in two runners for the second-straight game with a hard-hit ball to left center. After an Alyssa Martinez single, Erin Rodriguez hit another single to plate Brittanie Akey for the 4-1 score.
After the team's four-run fourth, the Spartans' starting pitcher Linford retired eight of the next nine batters to earn her sixth victory of the season.
San José State was also solid defensively. The team did not commit any errors in the game for the first time since February 20, and just the fifth time this season.
In the complete game win, Linford (6-5) scattered four hits, striking out four and walking two.
Six different Spartans recorded one hit, while Estrada was the only batter with multiple RBI.
San José State travels south to San Diego next weekend for the USD Tournament on Saturday, March 22, to face UC Santa Barbara and Long Beach State.
San Jose State 4, Princeton 1 (Mar 16, 2014 at San Jose, Calif.)
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Princeton........... 100 000 0 - 1 4 0 (2-9)
San Jose State...... 000 400 X - 4 6 0 (15-11)
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Pitchers: Princeton - Christian, Shanna; Nori, Erica(6) and Jerpbak, Skye. San Jose State -
Linford, Katelyn and Garcia, Jessica.
Win-LINFORD, Katelyn(6-5) Loss-Christian, Shanna(1-3)