May 5, 2015
San Jose, Calif. - San José State softball wraps up the regular-season portion of its 2015 schedule with three games, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, at New Mexico. The Spartans need to sweep the Lobos and hope for help in the form on a pair of UNLV wins over Fresno State in order to win the Mountain West title.
San José State Spartans (35-18, 15-6 MW)
at
New Mexico Lobos (28-23, 12-9 MW)
May 7-9
4:00 p.m., 5:00p.m., 11:00 a.m. (PT)
Lobo Field (1,500) - Albuquerque, N.M.Â
QUICK HITS
MADRID EQUALS SINGLE-SEASON DOUBLES MARKS
With a lead off double in the third inning against Nevada (5/3), Jessica Madrid (Jr., OF, Santa Ana, Calif.) tied Kelly Fangonilo's single-season program record with 17.
Earlier this season, with three doubles against San Diego State (4/10), Madrid tied a San José State record for the most doubles in a game. She equaled the mark set by Cheryl Freitas (4/7/12) and then matched by Jessica Garcia (4/21/12).
TEAM RECORDS IN JEOPARDY
With the potent offensive the Spartans have in 2015, you had to know that some records would be in jeopardy of falling...well some has turned into 10.
So far this year the team has set six single-season records:
| Former Record | New Record | |
| 475 | Hits | 505 |
| 304 | Runs | 337 |
| 275 | RBIs | 306 |
| 206 | Walks | 219 |
| 685 | Total Bases | 691 |
| 30 | Hit by Pitch | 44 |
If the Spartans continue to do what they are doing, the single season records in the following categories will also fall:
| Record | Currently | |
| .302 | Batting Avg. | .350 |
| .417 | Slugging % | .479 |
| .389 | On-base % | .444 |
| 7 | Saves | 7 |
LANG TIES SAVES RECORD & THIRD IN THE NATION
Getting the final four outs to close out the Spartans 5-4 win over Utah State (4/19), Allison Lang (Sr., RHP, Fountain Valley, Calif.) notched her seventh save of the year and in doing so tied Amanda Pridmore for the San José State single-season saves record. Â
Lang's seven saves lead the MW and ranks third in the nation this year.
CONTROLLING THE SHILLELAGH
San José State leads the MW in several offensive categories...the Spartans are tops the league in batting average (.350), hits (505), RBIs (306), walks (219), on-base % (.444), doubles (85), runs (337), plate appearances (1,740) and at bats (1,444). As a team SJSU has struck out just 163 times in 1,444 at-bats.
TURNER REACHES 250 WINS AT SAN JOSÉ STATE
With the Spartans 5-2 win over Utah State (4/17) to open a three-game series, head coach Peter Turner earned his 250th win at the helm of the San José State softball program. Turner has the most wins in program history (256).
IF ITS A TIE...IT GOES TO THE SPARTANS
By virtue of taking two-of-three from at Fresno State and at San Diego State, the Spartans hold the tiebreaker over each of its closest rivals heading into the final weekend of Mountain West play.
SJSU NEEDS SOME HELP FROM UNLV
San José State is two game back with three to play in the 2015 Mountain West schedule. The Spartans have to hope that UNLV will take at least two of three from Fresno State and then SJSU will have to sweep New Mexico to have any chance of catching the Bulldogs.
DOUBLE DIGIT HITS/WIN STREAK SNAPPED
The Spartans had 12 hits against Santa Clara (4/28), but for the first time this year, reaching double-digit hits didn't equal a win and then it happened in the first game of the Nevada series. San José State has rapped out double-digit hits in 28 of its 53 games this season. When SJSU reaches double-digit hits it's record is 26-2.
COX SETS CAREER RUNS RECORD
When Michelle Cox (Sr., OF, Sydney, Australia) scored her first of three runs against Utah Valley (3/13), she broke Valeri Quintero's 18-year old record for the runs scored in a Spartans career (130). Entering this weekend Cox has scored 160 career runs.
HUFSTETLER SETS SINGLE-SEASON RBI RECORD
 Jessie Hufstetler (Jr., INF, Atascadero, Calif.), with 66 RBIs, owns the SJSU single-season record, ranks first in the MW & 11th in the nation. At her current pace (1.24 RBI/gm - 16th in the nation) she would end the regular season with 70 RBIs, 17 more than the Spartans previous record of 53.
NATIONAL RANKINGS
San José State is the top ranked team in the Mountain West, and ranks 12th in the nation, with a .350 batting average. In addition, its .444 on-base percentage, 6.36 runs per game, and .479 slugging percentage nationally rank 12th, 28th and 58th, respectively and are all tops in the MW.Â
GET TO THE YARD ON TIME...THIS MAY NOT TAKE LONG
In the Spartans 35 victories this season, the team has defeated its opponent in less than the regulation seven innings, 14 times, which leads the Mountain West. Â
San José State finished 10-4 at home and won six of those 10 by run-rule. In addition, the Spartans became the first MW team to earn a run-rule win at SDSU, in the Aztecs 16 years in the conference. The 10-1 dismantling on April 11, was just the third time in SDSU's MW history, home or away, that they had suffered a loss in less than regulation play.
RODRIGUEZ AN ARTHUR ASHE, JR. SPORTS SCHOLAR
Erin Rodriguez (Jr., INF, Corona, Calif.) is one of 13 Spartans student-athletes of color to be honored for their work in the classroom (3.2+ GPA), on the field and in their community, by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education.
SJSU `s total honorees (13) are more than double the rest of the Mountain West schools combined and are the most of any school in the Pacific Time Zone.
SCOUTING THE LOBOS
New Mexico enters the weekend 28-23 overall, 12-9 in conference play. They are three games behind SJSU and in fourth place in the league. Last weekend UNM swept at Boise State and are 11-5 at home this year including 7-2 in MW series against Nevada, Colorado State and Boise State.
Its .296 team batting average and 3.95 staff ERA rank sixth and fourth, respectively, among the nine teams in the league. Mariah Rimmer leads the team (9th in the MW) with a .396 batting average and is eighth in the league, and leads the team, with 65 hits.Â
In the circle, New Mexico has three players in the top-10 in the Mountain West in ERA. Krissy Fortner (9-5, 91.0 IP, 57 Ks) ranks fifth at 2.85, Lauren Soles (9-5, 90.2 IP, 41 Ks) is ninth with a 3.63 ERA and Carrie Sheehan (7-54, 99.1 IP, 61 Ks) is 10th at 4.02.
The Lobos are led by fifth year head coach Erica Beach, who brought a 83-122 record, all at New Mexico, into the 2015 season.
In the all-time series, New Mexico holds an 11-to-16 advantage. However last year, their first in the MW, the Spartans took two of three at SJSU Field. This will be SJSU's third trip to Albuquerque having faced the Lobos two times previously as WAC conference foes. UNM took the two-game sets in both 1998 & 1999.