Fullerton, Calif.— Home runs and first-time winners were the name of game on Saturday for the Spartan softball team as San José State defeated UC Riverside, 7-6, and Middle Tennessee, 2-1, at the Titan Classic hosted by Cal State Fullerton.
Both Spartan victories came via the long ball. Trailing UC Riverside, 6-5, heading into the bottom of the sixth inning, Makayla Englestad started the Spartan rally with a single to right field. Cassidy Clark then came to plate and knocked the eighth pitch she saw over the left field fence to score the tying and eventual game-winning runs.
In the circle, freshman pitcher Shannon Haddad came into the game in the fourth inning for Caroline Bowman who faced two batters in relief of starter Jenessa Ullegue. Haddad recorded her first collegiate win in four innings pitched, striking out two and allowing just one hit in 13 batters faced.
Against Middle Tennessee, Suzy Brookshire provided all the offense for the Spartans with two home runs. She took a pitch over the right field wall to give SJSU a 1-0 lead. After MT tied the game at 1-1 in the fourth, neither team could push across another run until Brookshire took a pitch over the right centerfield fence for the 2-1 Spartan walk-off win.
Freshman pitcher Ilona Sullivan made her Spartan debut in the circle and made it a memorable one. She struck out nine in her first complete game and allowed six hits and just one earned run in 26 batters faced.
The Spartans are now 2-2 on the season and play at the Golden State Classic next weekend in Lake Elsinore, Calif.
San Jose State 7, UC Riverside 6
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UC Riverside........ 200 400 0 - 6 7 2 (0-3)
San Jose State...... 121 102 X - 7 7 4 (1-2)
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Pitchers: UC Riverside - Megan Casper; Jacy Boles(2); Briza Blanco(3); Cait. Rivera(5) and
K. Sorensen. San Jose State - ULLEGUE, Jenessa; BOWMAN, Caroline(4); HADDAD, Shannon(4) and
MACHADO, Ashley.
Win-HADDAD, Shannon(1-1) Loss-Cait. Rivera(0-1) T-2:15
HR UCR - Sarah Parten.
HR SJ - CLARK, Cassidy (1).
Megan Casper faced 2 batters in the 2nd.
ULLEGUE faced 4 batters in the 4th.
BOWMAN faced 2 batters in the 4th.
San Jose State 2, Middle Tennessee 1
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Middle Tennessee.... 000 100 0 - 1 6 0 (2-3)
San Jose State...... 010 000 1 - 2 2 0 (2-2)
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Pitchers: Middle Tennessee - Mead, Gretchen and King, Ryan. San Jose State - SULLIVAN, Ilona
and GARVEY, Grace.
Win-SULLIVAN, Ilona(1-0) Loss-Mead, Gretchen(0-1) T-2:30 A-0
HR MT - De La Cruz, Jocelynn.
HR SJ - BROOKSHIRE, Suzy 2 (2).
Mead faced 1 batter in the 7th.
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