San Diego, Calif.—The Spartans left the bases loaded in three separate innings as the San José State softball team fell at San Diego State, 3-2 in eight innings Friday night at SDSU Softball Stadium.
San Diego State's only lead of the game came with the walk-off home run by Shelby Thompson in the bottom of the eighth inning to give the Aztecs the win.
The Spartans left the bases loaded in the second, fifth and sixth innings and left a season-high 12 runners on base. The team had just six hits, all singles, in the game.
SJSU got the scoring started in the second inning. Jenessa Ullegue and Rayohna Sagapolu drew walks to start the inning off Aztec starter Marissa Morena, and Alyssa Graham singled up the middle to load the bases. Kristen Heffley showed patience at the plate to draw the walk and score Ullegue from third for the first run of the game.
See Heffley take ball four to score Ullegue for the 1-0 Spartan lead. pic.twitter.com/8GXYOqNtYI
— SJSU Softball (@SJSUSpartansSB) April 13, 2019
San Jose Staté added a run in the fifth inning to go up 2-0 as Ullegue singled to center field to score Cassidy Clark from second. Clark had started the inning with a single through the left side and advanced to second as Madison Aurin hit into a fielder's choice. But the Spartans could not capitalize again and left the bases loaded.
Jenessa Ullegue singled to center to score Cassidy Clark from second base in the fifth to increase the Spartan lead to 2-0. pic.twitter.com/bo2fBJH2mU
— SJSU Softball (@SJSUSpartansSB) April 13, 2019
The Aztecs responded in the bottom of the fifth with a run, added a run in the bottom of the sixth and then hit the game-winning run in bottom of the eighth inning.
Spartan pitcher Caroline Bowman pitched her 17th complete game of the season as her record fell to 9-6. She struck out two, allowed eight hits and did not walk an Aztec in the game.
The series continues Saturday night in San Diego with a 6 p.m. game.