March 20, 2016
Santee, Calif. - The San Jose Stat softball team got its second split in as many days on Saturday. The team lost to the Weber State Wildcats (15-11) in the opener 4-0, but returned in the afternoon to defeat the University of Illinois 7-6.
SAN JOSE STATE 7, ILLINOIS 6
Leading 7-1 heading into the top of the seventh, San Jose State (10-17) appeared to be on its way to an easy victory against the Fighting Illini.
SJSU had runners on in every inning of the game. Chelsea Jenner got the scoring started with a two-run bomb in the bottom of the second. It was her first homer of the year and staked the Spartans to a 2-0 lead.
SJSU added three more in the fifth. Brittany Abacherli led off with a walk. Kristen Heffley, the next batter, got on after a fielding error at second base. San Jose State was set up with two on and nobody out. Three batters later, with the runners on second and third, Taylor Purdy smacked a two-RBI single to right center making the score 4-0.
Two batters after Purdy's single, Jenner drove in her third run of the game on a single up the middle and the Spartans took a 5-0 lead.
Illinois got a run in the top of the sixth on an RBI double to cut the SJSU lead to 5-1.
In the sixth, Abacherli led off with a single. Heffley followed her with a perfectly placed bunt single. Jessie Hufstetler, coming off the bench as a pinch hitter, was plunked on a 3-2 count to load the bases with no outs.
Anissa Pinedo walked to force in a run to make it 6-1 and two batters later Hufstetler scored on a wild pitch to make it 7-1 heading to the seventh.
Through six innings Emily Rogers did an outstanding job in the circle. She scattered seven hits, struck out three and allowed just the one run.
She was lifted in the top of the seventh and that is when it got interesting.
Katelyn Linford started the seventh with a fly out, but then surrendered three straight singles to load the bases. Collette Riggs came in for Linford, with the count at 2-0 against Illini batter Nicole Evans. Riggs worked the count to 3-2 before Evans unloaded a shot that curved around the left field foul pole for a grand slam. It was 7-5.
Riggs faced one more batter, issuing a walk before being replaced by Chantelle Ladner, the third Spartans pitcher of the inning.
Ladner induced a ground out from the first batter she faced and after a single to first, Illinois had runners at the corners with two out. A fielding error by shortstop Alyssa Martinez led to a run, which made it 7-6, and infield single to short from the next batter loaded the bases.
Ladner ran the count to 3-2 to the next hitter, before getting a ground out to second base. Taylor Purdy fielded it cleanly, tossed to first for the final out and a win for the Spartans.
Rogers (1-2) picked up the win and Lander, who pitched two-thirds of an innings, got the first save of her collegiate career.
San Jose State 7, Illinois 6 (Mar 19, 2016 at Santee, Calif.)
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Illinois............ 000 001 5 - 6 13 1 (17-8)
San Jose State...... 020 032 X - 7 8 1 (10-17)
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Pitchers: Illinois - J. Vecvanags; K. Giddens(5) and S. Abello. San Jose State - Rogers, Emily;
LINFORD, Katelyn(7); RIGGS, Colette(7); LADNER, Chantelle(7) and Avila, Alyssa.
Win-ROGERS, Emily(1-2) Save-LADNER, Chantelle(1) Loss-J. Vecvanags(8-5) T-2:03 A-75
HR ILL - N. Evans.
HR SJ - Jenner, Chelsea.
RIGGS faced 2 batters in the 7th.
WEBER STATE 4, SAN JOSE STATE 0
In the first game of the day, the Spartans offense struggled to support starter Katelyn Linford.
The team had four base runners in the game. It got a walk in the first and a single in the third from Brittany Abacherli. Alyssa Martinez doubled in the fourth, and Taylor Purdy singled in the fifth.
After she was walked, Abacherli moved to second on a groundout, but the team failed to advance her any further. Martinez's double came with two outs, but she too was stranded at second.
Linford let the first four batters reach safely, three on infield hits. With one out and runners on second and third, she gave up a double to right center, which scored two runs.
However, she retired the next two batters to end the inning and set down a total of 11 in a row.
In the fifth, she walked the leadoff batter. A sacrifice bunt and passed ball moved the runner to third. She then issued her second walk of the inning. After a stolen base the Wildcats had runners on second and third with one out, but Linford (2-6) got a strikeout and induced a groundout to end the threat.
Weber State got a lead off single to right followed by a home run to open the sixth and increased its lead to 4-0. Linford faced one more batter before being lifted in favor of Collette Riggs.
Riggs finished the final 1.2 innings giving up two hits and striking out two.
Weber State's Kirtlyn Bohling tossed the complete game three-hit shutout and improved her record to 10-2 on the season.
Weber State 4, San Jose State 0 (Mar 19, 2016 at Santee, Cailf.)
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Weber State......... 200 002 0 - 4 7 0 (15-11)
San Jose State...... 000 000 0 - 0 3 0 (9-17)
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Pitchers: Weber State - Bohling, Kirtlyn and Horne, Molly. San Jose State - Linford, Katelyn;
RIGGS, Colette(6) and Avila, Alyssa.
Win-Bohling, Kirtlyn(10-2) Loss-LINFORD, Katelyn(2-6) T-1:36 A-75
HR WS - Whitmer, Aubrey.