April 28, 2018
San Jose, Calif. - Trailing 1-0 with a runner on second and one out in the bottom of the seventh inning, Madison Aurin took the 0-1 offering from New Mexico's Krissy Fortner and absolutely hammered it over the left field fence for a 2-1 walk-off win on Saturday afternoon on Spartans Softball Field.
The San José State (29-15, 13-6 MW) offense managed just three hits off Fortner on the day, two from Aurin and one from Desiree Reyes. But the third and final hit was the first home run on the Spartans' new field. It cleared a 12-foot left field fence, which down the line is 220 feet from home plate.
While the offense struggled, pitcher Caroline Bowman scattered seven hits over 7.0 innings and struck out a career-high six batters.
New Mexico (12-34, 5-12 MW) had runners on base in four of seven innings, but Bowman shut them down in all but the fourth. The Lobos got three hits in the fourth and scored their only run of the game.
With one out they got back-to-back singles and both runners moved into scoring position on a fly out to center. Monica Salas then singled up the middle, plating the go ahead run.
However, on the play New Mexico got greedy and tried to score the runner from second. Brittany Abacherli scooped up the ball in shallow centerfield and fired a frozen rope to Alyssa Avila at the plate. All Avila had to do was wait for the runner to slide into the tag to end the inning and limit the Lobos to one run. The score remained the 1-0 until Aurin's heroics.
Bowman earned the win and improved her record to 14-2. Fortner, the hard luck loser, pitched 6.1 innings, gave up three hits, two runs; one earned, and stuck out one. She is now 3-7 on the season. Neither pitcher allowed a walk in the game.
Following the game, Abacherli and Emma Entzminger were honored in a senior ceremony attended by friends, family and current and former teammates.
The teams wrap up the series on Sunday. First pitch on Spartans Softball Field is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.
San Jose State 2, New Mexico 1 (Apr 28, 2018 at San Jose, Calif.)
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New Mexico.......... 000 100 0 - 1 7 1 (12-34, 5-12 MW)
San Jose State...... 000 000 2 - 2 3 0 (29-15, 13-6 MW)
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Pitchers: New Mexico - FORTNER and BRODERICK. San Jose State - Bowman, Caroline and
Win-BOWMAN, Caroline(14-2) Loss-FORTNER(3-7) T-1:33 A-276
HR SJ - Aurin, Madison (10).
Game: NM-SJ2