Las Cruces, N.M. – In a repeat of San José State softball's day one at the Troy Cox Classic, SJSU won its first game on Saturday, but surrendered double-digit runs in a game two loss and finished the weekend in New Mexico with a 2-2 record.
San José State 3, New Mexico State 1
San Jose State (5-4) scored three times in the top of the first inning and made it stand up in a 3-1 victory over the New Mexico State Aggies.
SJSU used two hits and a throwing error by the Aggies first baseman to plate its three runs. Makayla Englestad (2-for-4, R, 2B) led off the game with a double to left and after a strikeout, Cassidy Clark walked. Madison Aurin then reached on the NMSU error. Englestad scored on the play, Clark got to third and Aurin advanced to second.
Following the second strikeout of the inning, Janessa Ullegue (2-for-3, 2RBI) singled to left, to score the Spartans final two runs.
In the circle, Aurin, scattered three hits through the first two innings, but in the third the Aggies got on the board. They used a one-out double and two-out single to trim a run off the San José State lead.
Aurin (1-1) pitched until she allowed a pair of one-out singles in the fifth. She scattered eight hits in 4.1 innings and recorded one strikeout.
Ullegue was brought in and she ended the threat with a strikeout and fly out. The pitched a total 2.2 innings of no-hit relief with two strikeouts to earn her second save of the season.
Bradley 14, San José State 6
Trailing 4-0 after half an inning, the Spartans battled back to within a run after five complete, but a two-inning seven home run barrage by the Bradley Braves sent the Spartans to a 14-6 defeat.
Caroline Bowman started the game and gave up hits to each of the first four batters she faced. The first innings started with three consecutive singles, the last of which drove in the game's first run, and the fourth Braves' batter smacked a three-run homer to stake Bradley to a 4-0 lead.
SJSU (5-5) started to claw its way back into the game in the third. With two outs and pinch runner Taylor Tiger on second, Arianna Mirando singled to center to get the Spartans on the board.
In the fourth, Janessa Ullegue (1-for-3, R, RBI, HR) belted a leadoff homer to left to make it a 4-2 game and in the fifth a Cassidy Clark (2-for-4, RBI, 2B) double scored Makayla Englestad (1-for-3, R, BB), who had singled earlier in the inning, to get the Spartans to within a run at 4-3.
But in the top of the sixth the wheels came off for San José State.
Bradley got solo homers from two of its first three batters to extend its lead to three runs and send Bowman (1-2) to the showers. She pitched 5.1 innings giving up nine hits and six runs and stuck out two.
Ullegue was brought in the staunch the bleeding, but three of the four batters she faced took her out making the score 9-3. Chrys Hildebrand replaced Ullegue and after a walk, ended the inning with a flyout.
The Spartans got three runs back in the bottom of the inning on a pinch-hit RBI double from Kristen Heffley (1-for-1, RBI, 2B) and a two-RBI single from Mirando (3-for-4, 3RBI) to get the Spartans back to a three-run deficit, 9-6.
With five runs in the top of the seventh, Bradley put the game away. They got a two-out three-run homer followed by a two-run shot to extend the lead to 14-6.
SJSU got its first two runners on in the bottom of the seventh, but the next three batters were unable to plate any runs and the Spartans ended the day with a 14-6 loss.
The Spartans co-host the 2019 Silicon Valley Classic I next weekend with eight games Friday, February 22 through Sunday February 24.