March 15, 2018
San Jose, Calif. - Cassidy Clark slammed a fifth inning homer to propel San José State's softball team to a 3-1 victory over Fairleigh Dickinson in the Spartans final scheduled non-conference game of the 2018 season.
With one-out and the game tied 0-0 in the bottom of the fifth, Emma Entzminger (2-for-4, R) singled to right and Kaelin Amrein (2-for-3, R, 2 2B) walked to put two on. Clark (2-for-3, R, 3RBI, HR) then slammed a homer to dead center field to put SJSU up 3-0. For the sophomore, who leads the team with a .410 average, it was her second homer of the season.
SJSU (16-9), which banged out nine hits on the day, had a couple of chances to get on the board early in the game, but couldn't come up with the big hit. They left a runner on in the first inning; two in the second and in the third had runners at second and third with no outs, but couldn't push any runs across.
In the sixth and up 3-1, San José State had a chance to bust the game open with the bases loaded and one out, but couldn't get a ball out of the infield.
Caroline Bowman, the Spartans' starter, cruised through the first three innings allowing only one base runner, a walk in the second. In the fourth, Fairleigh Dickinson (4-10) got a leadoff single and three batters later a base hit up the middle put runners on the corners. Bowman then induced a groundout to end the innings and strand the runners where they were.
In the fifth, FDU had runners on second and third with two outs, but Bowman again got the groundball to get out of the inning.
In the sixth, the Knights finally broke through. They got a leadoff double followed by a single, which ended the day for Bowman.
Madison Aurin was brought in with runners on the corners and got the first batter she faced to hit into a fielder's choice. FDU scored on the play to cut the SJSU lead to 3-1. After a walk, the Spartans turned a double play to end the inning and quash the threat.
In the seventh, Aurin set the Knights down in order to earn her second save of the season. She pitched 2.0 innings and gave up no hits. Bowman (9-0) went 5.0 innings, gave up one run, scattered six hits and had a walk and a strikeout.
The Spartans begin Mountain West play this weekend against San Diego State. The teams are scheduled to play at 12:00 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Mission College.
San Jose State 3, Fairleigh Dickinson 1 (Mar 15, 2018 at San Jose, Calif.)
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Fairleigh Dickinson. 000 001 0 - 1 6 0 (4-10)
San Jose State...... 000 030 X - 3 9 0 (16-9)
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Pitchers: Fairleigh Dickinson - ENGLAND, Abby; JOHNSON, Erica(5); PORTS, Baylee(5) and
CERVANTES, Reanna. San Jose State - Bowman, Caroline; AURIN, Madison(6) and Avila, Alyssa.
Win-BOWMAN, Caroline(9-0) Save-AURIN, Madison(2) Loss-ENGLAND, Abby(2-2) T-1:41 A-75
HR SJ - Clark, Cassidy.
Weather: Cold
JOHNSON faced 3 batters in the 5th.
BOWMAN faced 2 batters in the 6th.
Game: FDU-SJ