April 13, 2017
Santa Clara, Calif. - In a five-run second inning, freshman Cassidy Clark drove in two of her team-high three runs and Katelyn Linford tossed her 12th complete game in San Jose State softball's 6-2 victory over Boise State in the opening-game of the three-game Mountain West series.
Boise State (24-13, 6-7 MW) used three pitchers with starter Christina Washington lasting just an inning and a third. After giving up a pair of hits, but no runs in the first, the Spartans got five more hits and scored five times in the second off Washington.
Chelsea Jenner (2-for-3, R) led off the second with a single and two batters later Emma Entzminger walked to move Jenner into scoring position. Alexandra Luna (1-for-3, RBI) promptly drove in Jenner with a single up the middle. Brittany Abacherli loaded the bases with the team's third single of the frame, which brought up Casey Watt. Watt (1-for-3, R, 2RBI, 2B) hammered double to the gap in left center which plated two runs and made the score, 3-0.
Clark (2-for-4, 3RBI), who had singled in the first inning, then placed a single right on the left field line for two more SJSU runs. Clark's two-RBI single spelled the end of the day for Washington (13-6), who took the loss and gave way to reliever Paige Reimann. Reimann got the Broncos out of the inning with a pair of groundouts, but the damage was done and the Spartans held a 5-0 lead after two.
The score remained the same until the top of the fourth. Linford had given up three hits and worked around an error through the first three innings, but in the fourth two more San José State errors and a pair of Boise State hits would lead to a pair of unearned runs.
The Spartans (25-14, 5-5 MW) got one of the runs back in the bottom of the frame. Abacherli (2-for-4, 2R, 3B) led off, took a 2-0 pitch toward the right field line, turned on the jets and had a standup triple. Watt followed her with a walk. Clark hit a roller through the right side to drive in Abacherli for the team's sixth and final run.
On the day, Linford scattered eight hits, walked three, struck out three and stranded 12 Boise State runners to improve her record to 16-6 on the year.
The top of the San José State lineup, Abacherli, Watt and Clark, did the majority of the damage with the bats. The threesome combined for five of the team's nine hits, going 5-for-11 with three runs and five RBIs.
Game two of the series is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. on Friday at Mission College.
San Jose State 6, Boise State 2 (Apr 13, 2017 at Santa Clara, Calif.)
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Boise State......... 000 200 0 - 2 8 0 (24-13, 6-7 MW)
San Jose State...... 050 100 X - 6 9 3 (25-14, 5-5 MW)
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Pitchers: Boise State - WASHINGTON; REIMANN, P.(2); LYNCH, V.(4) and PEARSON, S..
San Jose State - Linford, Katelyn and Luna, Alexandra.
Win-LINFORD, Katelyn(16-6) Loss-WASHINGTON(13-6) T-2:12 A-103
Game: BSU-SJ1