Feb. 15, 2015
Tucson, Ariz. - For the San José State softball team, 10 was a magic number on Sunday morning. The Spartans scored 10 runs on 10 hits in 10-2 win over Loyola Marymount and completed play in the Hillenbrand Invitational with a 4-1 record
Alyssa Martinez lead the offense with a second inning grand slam, which turned out to be the game winning hit. Martinez, Erin Rodriguez and Taylor Purdy, batting fifth, sixth and seventh, combined to go 4-for-8 driving in seven runs.
"We're solid up and down the line up," said head coach Peter Turner. "The top-four spots have been really hitting, but today we got run production farther down the batting order. It's is really a nice to have options when you are filling out a line up card or in certain situations. The issue may be getting enough playing time to keep everyone sharp because they can all rake."
Allison Lang won her second game of the weekend and improved her record to 3-1 on the year. Against LMU, she tossed five innings giving up four hits and two unearned runs. She struck out four and walked one.
"Allie was great today," said Turner. "She consistently got ahead in the count, which we stress, and that allowed her to do some things that kept (LMU) off balance. It's the same thing that (Katelyn) Linford did last night (in an 11-2 win over Loyola Chicago). We've been working on her mechanics and she saw the results with that win. (Linford) has a chance to really do something this year. She just needs to keep applying what we work on in practice and good things will continue to happen."
The Spartans (8-3), who got three of their four wins over the weekend in five innings run-rule games, started quickly. With two out and Jessica Madrid on second, Sharon-Renae Estrada was hit by a pitch, followed by a Martinez single to load the bases.
Rodriguez then "took one for the team" to plate San José State's first run. Purdy, the next batter, worked the LMU pitcher for a walk, which pushed across the second run of the frame and gave SJSU a 2-0 lead after one.
Lang set the Lions down in order in the top of the second, which got the Spartans back into the dugout with a chance to do more damage.
Casey Lester led off with a single and after walks to Madrid and Estrada and a couple of outs the bases were loaded for Martinez. She unloaded them, on the second pitch of the at-bat, with a grand slam for a 6-0 Spartans lead. It was the first grand slam of her career and second of the weekend for the Spartans.
The Lions got their two runs in the third. A one out error by Martinez allowed the batter to get to second. Two hitters later, an RBI single scored a run and two batters after that a double plated LMU's second run.
Neither team pushed any across until the bottom of the fifth. The Spartans scored four runs on four hits. Madrid picked up a one-out, two-RBI double and two batters later Estrada plated a run on a fielder's choice. With runners on second and third and two out, Rodriguez smacked the game ending RBI-single to make it 10-2.
"I'm pleased because more good things happened for us this weekend than bad," said Turner. "With the exception of one inning in the Arizona game (a 9-1 loss), we cleaned up what we needed to and played well in all three phases. Now we get to come home and put on our whites (jerseys) at the Santa Clara tournament."
San José State participates in the Santa Clara Bronco Classic next weekend. It's first of two games on Friday afternoon is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. against Idaho State.
San Jose State 10, Loyola Marymount 2 (Feb 15, 2015 at Tucson, Ariz.)------------------------------ ------------------------------ ----------Loyola Marymount.... 002 00 - 2 4 1 (3-5)San Jose State...... 240 04 - 10 10 1 (8-3)------------------------------ ------------------------------ ----------Pitchers: Loyola Marymount - FARRINGTON; CRIST(2); WELLINS(2) and MOORE. San Jose State - Lang, Allison and Masutani, Kryn. Win-LANG, Allison(3-1) Loss-CRIST(1-2) T-1:38 A-651 HR SJ - Martinez, Alyssa.