April 18, 2014
Boise, Idaho - A six-run sixth propelled the San José State University softball team to an 11-5 Mountain West win over Boise State on Friday.
For the second-straight game, the Spartans (24-17, 7-4 MW) opened scoring in the first inning. With Michelle Cox on second due to a walk and an illegal pitch, Jessica Garcia pummeled the ball over the scoreboard in left field for her ninth homer of the season and the 2-0 lead.
A pair of RBI-singles by the Broncos (22-19, 7-7 MW) in the first and second innings knotted the score, 2-2, after two.
Back-to-back Spartan doubles in the top of the fourth broke the tie. Casey Watt sent the ball sailing into the right field fence, driving in Kryn Masutani. The next batter, Devin Caldwell, hit the ball to right center, which dribbled into the fence, and scored Nicole Schultz and Watt for the 5-2 lead after four-and-a-half innings.
The Broncos cut the Spartans' lead in the bottom of the frame. A two-out RBI-single by Boise State made the score 5-3 in San José State's favor at the end of four.
In the fifth inning, San José State used its bullpen to hold Boise State to three runs. After pitching a bases-loading walk in the first, starter Madison Fish threw another bases-loading walk and was lifted for Allison Lang. But Lang forced the Broncos' top batter, Tara Glover, to strike out swinging on a 1-2 count and Boise State left the bases loaded at the end of five full innings.
The Spartans batted around the order and exploded for six runs in the sixth inning. Jessie Hufstetler shot the ball to the Broncos' shortstop but an error on the throw gave room for both Cox and Caldwell to score. Mackenzie McGill walked in the Spartans' third run of the inning, pushing across Chelsea Jenner. A wild pitch and error on the Broncos' first baseman allowed Martinez, Rodriguez and Masutani to score for the 11-3 lead after six-and-a-half.
But the Broncos refused to be run-ruled. In the bottom of the sixth, Boise State sent two runs home off of an RBI-single and ground out, making the score 11-5 heading into the seventh.
Fish (7-2) scattered nine hits and allowed three runs, walking four and fanning two. Lang got her third save of the season, three-hitting 2.1 innings in relief. She walked three batters and struck out one.
The Spartans had a second-straight game with 10-or-more hits, putting 12 on the board for 18 games with double-digit hit games this year. Caldwell, Cox, Garcia and Masutani had two hits each, with Cox and Masutani both scoring a pair of runs.
San José State and Boise State conclude their Mountain West series tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. (MT).
San Jose State 11, Boise State 5 (Apr 18, 2014 at Boise, Idaho)
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San Jose State...... 200 306 0 - 11 12 1 (24-17, 7-4 MW)
Boise State......... 110 102 0 - 5 12 2 (22-19, 7-7 MW)
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Pitchers: San Jose State - Fish, Madison; LANG, Allison(5) and Garcia, Jessica; Masutani, Kryn.
Boise State - COLE, Kenzie; MCGILL, MacKenzie(4) and TORREZ, Hailey.
Win-FISH, Madison(7-2) Save-LANG, Allison(3) Loss-COLE, Kenzie(0-4)
HR SJSU - Garcia, Jessica (9).