March 29, 2017
Los Angeles, Calif. - In giving up just a single hit over five inning, senior Colette Riggs had her best outing of the 2017 season and the San José State softball team defeated Loyola Marymount 10-0 in five innings on Wednesday afternoon.
The Lions' lone single came with two outs in the first and was followed by a walk, but Riggs struck out the next batter, one of two strikeouts on the day, to end the threat.
Riggs (5-2) hit the first batter in the second, but the defense picked her up with a 5-4-3 double play followed by a pop out in foul territory. The only other base runner the LMU (13-21) could get against Riggs was a hit batter to lead off the fourth, but the native of Yorba Linda, Calif., set the next six hitters down in order to earn the win, her first complete game victory of the year.
While Riggs was lock down in the circle, the Spartans bats banged out to 10 hits and 10 runs in five innings. They were 10-for-24 (.417) on the day, 6-for-16 (.375) with runners on and 4-for-10 (.400) with runners in scoring position.
San José State (22-10) scored in four of the five innings and started things off in the first with a pair of runs. Casey Watt got a one out double to left center and two batters later, Georgia Blair (1-for-2, 2R, 2RBI, HR) crushed a shot over the left field wall for her team-leading fourth homer of the season and a 2-0 lead.
In the second, Chelsea Jenner (2-for-3, 2R, 2RBI, HR) hit her second round tripper of the season; sending it to the same spot Blair hit hers out the previous inning and pushing the SJSU advantage to 3-0.
To open the third, Blair walked and Cassidy Clark (2-for-2, 2R) singled. Alyssa Avila (1-for-2, 2RBI) then roped a shot down the left field line scoring both runner to make it 5-0. The Avila double spelled the end of the day for Lions starter Maddie Rawl (0-1) who made way for Andy Wellins in relief.
Wellins uncorked a pair of wild pitches, which allowed Julia Gallegos, who was running for Avila, to advance to third and then score the Spartans sixth run of the game.
Madison Aurin (1-for-3) got a one out single in the fourth, but was erased in double play when Blair's rocket shot down the right foul line was speared by the Lions' first baseman who stepped on the bag to double up Aurin.
In the fifth, the Spartans put the game away.
Clark singled to open the frame and two batters later Kristen Heffley got a pinch-hit single to move Clark into scoring position. Jenner then singled to right plating Clark, moving Heffley to third and on the throw home, moved into scoring position.
Two batters later, Brittany Abacherli walked to load the bases. Casey Watt (2-for-4, R, 3RBI) unloaded them on a laser to right center. When the dust settled, Watt was on second and all three runners had scored to make the score 10-0. Riggs took it from there for her first shutout of the season.
The Spartans move on to San Diego over the weekend and get back into Mountain West action with a three game set against the San Diego State Aztecs. First pitch in the series opener is set for 6:00 p.m. on Friday night in the SDSU Softball Stadium.
San Jose State 10, Loyola Marymount 0 (Mar 29, 2017 at Los Angeles, Calif.)
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San Jose State...... 213 04 - 10 10 0 (22-10)
Loyola Marymount.... 000 00 - 0 1 0 (13-21)
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Pitchers: San Jose State - Riggs, Colette and Avila, Alyssa. Loyola Marymount - RAWL; WELLINS(3)and MANLEY.
Win-RIGGS, Colette(5-2) Loss-RAWL(0-1) T-1:38 A-40
HR SJ - Blair, Georgia (4); Jenner, Chelsea (2).
Weather: Sunny and 75 degrees
RAWL faced 3 batters in the 3rd.
Game: SJ-LMU