San Jose, Calif. – In its first two home games of the season, the San José State softball team cruised to a pair of wins on day one of the inaugural edition of Silicon Valley Classic I. The Spartans defeated the Ball State Cardinals 5-0 and the Northern Colorado Bears 3-1.
San José State 5, Ball State 0
Freshman Jenessa Ullegue tossed a complete game three-hitter for the Spartans in the team's first game of the day. In improving her record to 2-1 on the season, Ullegue struck out four and gave up four walks.
Ball State (8-5) was able to get runners into scoring position in the second, third, fourth and fifth innings, but each time the Spartans were able to slam the door and keep the Cardinals off the scoreboard.
With the game tied 0-0 in the bottom of the third, SJSU (6-5) struck. Rayohna Sagapolu (1-for-2, R, 3B) led off with a triple down the right field line and scored when the next batter, Alyssa Avila (1-for-3, RBI), singled through the right side for a 1-0 Spartans lead. Two batters later, with Makayla Englestad on first and two outs, Ball State's pitcher uncorked a pair of wild pitches with got Englestad to third. Arianna Miranda (2-for-4, R, 3RBI, HR) the singled to drive in Englestad to make it a 2-0 game.
The Spartans got two more in the fifth. Mackenzie Drake (1-for-2, R) singled to open the frame and after a pop out, Miranda pounded a ball up into the jet stream and watched it sail over the left field fence for a 4-0 Spartans advantage. It's the first home run of Miranda's college career.
The team's final run came in the sixth. With Ullegue (1-for-2, R) on first and Drake second, Englestad (1-for-4, R, RBI, 2B) ripped a double to left which scored Ullegue to make it 5-0.
In the seventh, Ullegue set the Cardinals down in order to compete the shut out.
San José State 3, Northern Colorado 1
Caroline Bowman scattered seven hits over seven innings to earn a complete-game 3-1 victory and improve her record to 3-2 on the season.
Both teams did all their damage in the first two innings.
In the bottom of the first San José State (7-5) put two runs on the board. Makayla Englestad (1-for-2, R, RBI, 3B) led off and reached base on catcher's interference. Two batters later Cassidy Clark (1-for-3, R) singled to move Englestad into scoring position. Madison Aurin (1-for-3, RBI, 2B) then doubled down the left field line to plate Englestad. Carley Morfey (1-for-3, RBI) followed Aurin with a single through the right side to bring Clark home and stake the Spartans to a 2-0 lead.
Northern Colorado (1-10) cut the advantage in half in the top of the second. They got two hits, including an RBI single with runners on the corners and no outs. A sacrifice bunt then moved two runners into scoring position with one out, but from there a fielder's choice cut a runner down at the plate and catcher Grace Garvey gunned down a would-be base stealer at second to end the threat with SJSU up 2-1.
In the bottom of the frame the Spartans got the single run back. Rayohna Sagapolu (1-for-2, R) singled up the middle to open the inning. After a pair of strikeouts, Englestad ripped a ball down the right field line and was off to the races. Sagapolu came all the way around to score and Englestad ended up on third with a triple, and her team-leading fifth extra-base hit of the year. San José State had a 3-1 lead after two complete.
The Bears had runners in scoring position with one out in the third, one out in the fourth and two outs in the fifth, but each time Bowman worked her way out of the jam and held Northern Colorado off the scoreboard to preserve the 3-1 victory.
In the first game of the day, Ball State defeated Northern Colorado 10-0.
The Silicon Valley Classic I continues on Saturday with a slate of three games. The day starts with CSU Bakersfield playing Ball State at 9:00 a.m. CSU Bakersfield then plays Montana at 11:30 a.m. and the day wraps up with San José State hosting Montana in the day's finale at 2:00 p.m.
Live stats will be available for all games on the softball schedule page at www.sjsuspartans.com.