Feb. 14, 2015
Arizona Box Score
Loyola Box Score
Tucson, Ariz. - The San José State softball team improved to 7-3 on the season after splitting a pair of games, a 9-1 loss to Arizona and an 11-2 win over Loyola (Chicago), in the second day of the Wildcats' Hillenbrand Invitational.
Jessie Hufstetler continued her hot hitting going 4-for-6 on the day with six RBI. In four games in Tucson she is 9-for-12, with two doubles, four home runs and 16 RBI.
Game 1 vs. #14 Arizona
The Spartans had eight hits, getting two each from Hufstetler, Alyssa Martinez and Nicole Schultz.
San José State's lone run came in the first inning. With one out Michelle Cox reached base on an error and by the time the dust had cleared was standing on third base. Hufstetler, who was 5-of-6 with 10 RBI in two games on Friday, singled to left driving in Cox and giving the Spartans a 1-0 lead.
SJSU (6-3) would get another single two batters later, but with runners on first and second couldn't push another run across against the Wildcats.
In the bottom of the second Arizona put seven runs on the Spartans. A lead off walk and error by Sharon-Renae Estrada at third put two runners on. Two batters later, with one out, Arizona got a three-run home run to center for a 3-0 lead.
With two outs and the bases empty, the Wildcats worked Alison Lang for a walk and five hits on their way to scoring four unearned runs. They took a 7-1 lead to the third.
The Spartans got hits in the third and fourth, but didn't score and Arizona added a run in its half of the fourth to increase its lead to 8-1.
The Spartans opened the fifth with singles from Schultz and Jessica Madrid. Two batters later, with one out, Hufstetler singled to load the bases. Estrada then hit into an inning-ending double play to kill the rally.
Arizona (7-0) got a run in the bottom of the sixth to end the game 9-1. The had 14 hits against Spartan pitching
Lang suffered her first loss of the season. She faced 24 batters in 3.2 innings and gave up nine hits and eight runs, but just three runs were earned.
Arizona 9, San Jose State 1 (Feb 14, 2015 at Tucson, Ariz.)
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San Jose State...... 100 000 - 1 8 1 (6-3)
Arizona............. 070 101 - 9 14 2 (7-0)
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Pitchers: San Jose State - Lang, Allison; FISH, Madison(4) and Conchas, Daisy; Entzminger, Emma . Arizona - Parks and Goodacre. Win-Parks(4-0) Loss-LANG, Allison(2-1) T-1:55 A-0 HR ARIZ - Parks.
Game 2 vs. Loyola (Chicago)
The top four hitters in the Spartans lineup - Jessica Madrid, Michelle Cox, Jessie Hufstetler and Sharon-Renae Estrada - were a combined 9-for-13. They drove in nine runs and scored four as the Spartans bounced right back for an 11-2 win over Loyola Chicago in five innings.
In the circle, Katelyn Linford (1-1) earned her first win of the year working five innings, giving up just three hits and two runs. She struck out three and threw 45 strikes in 71 pitches, without walking a single batter.
San José State (7-3) scored in each of the first four innings. In the first, the Spartans banged out four hits, scoring two runs off a Hufstetler home run with one out.
Linford set Loyola down in order in the top of the second to get SJSU back in the batters box.
Emma Entzminger scored San José State's first run in the second. She led off with the first of back-to-back walks. A single by Brittany Abacherli moved everyone up a base and a throwing error allowed Entzminger to score. Two batters later Cox loaded them up on a bunt single. Two batters after Cox, Estrada walked in the second run of the frame and the Spartans led 4-0 going to the third.
The one blemish on Linford's score line came in the top of the third. She gave up a one-out single and a two-run home run before inducing a pair of groundouts to end the inning.
The Spartans got the runs right back in the bottom of the frame. Erin Rodriguez reached on an error. Entzminger walked and Abacherli reached on the second Loyola error in three batters. The error allowed Rodriguez to score. Madrid walked to load them up, and two batters later Hufstetler ripped a bases-clearing double to center to give SJSU an 8-2 lead.
Linford set Loyola (3-5) down one-two-three in the top of the fourth and in the bottom of the frame San José State scored three more runs. With one out and two runners on, Madrid doubled to the gap in right center plating two. Cox followed Madrid with a double of her own and traded places with her for the team's 11th run of the game. Which was the final margin of victory, 11-2.
The Spartans finish play in the Hillenbrand Invitaitonal on Sunday with one game, against Loyola Marymount. First pitch is scheduled for 10:00 a.m.
San Jose State 11, Loyola Chicago 2 (Feb 14, 2015 at Tucson, Ariz.)------------------------------ ------------------------------ ----------Loyola Chicago...... 002 00 - 2 3 3 (3-5)San Jose State...... 224 3X - 11 10 0 (7-3)------------------------------ ------------------------------ ----------Pitchers: Loyola Chicago - Hope; Rogers(3) and LaCivita; Shaffer. San Jose State - Linford, Katelyn and Masutani, Kryn; Schultz, Nicole.Win-LINFORD, Katelyn(1-1) Loss-Hope(3-2) T-1:34 A-41 HR LUC - Pasquale. HR SJ - Hufstetler, Jessie.