SAN JOSE, Calif. - Leata Sherlin, with the bases loaded and a single up the middle, brought in two runs to start a two-out rally to lead the San José State softball team (10-16, 2-1 MW) to a conference series win over UNLV (13-15, 1-2 MW), 4-3.
The game was scoreless through the first two innings until Sherlin opened it up with a single on a 0-1 count with two outs to score Ahmiya Noriega and Reina Zermeno.
Shay McDowell immediately followed that up with a single of her own to left field to bring in Carly Cummings and Sherlin, putting the Spartans up 4-0 on two outs.
Starting in the circle was Delaney Faus, making her second start of the series and had no-hit the Rebels through the first three innings. Faus gave up her first hit and run in the third, the Rebels scoring off of an error.
Faus then held the Rebels scoreless through the fifth and sixth innings. Following back-to-back hits in the seventh, Norah Coulsell entered as relief. The Rebels scored a run off a single up the middle and another off an error.
With both the tying and go-ahead run on third and second, Coulsell recorded the final out of the game on a popup, securing the game 4-3.
The last time the Spartans won a conference-opening series was in 2024 with a 2-1 series win over New Mexico. The Spartans last took a series over UNLV in 2023.
NOTABLES
- Noriega went perfect at the plate, going 3-for-3 with three singles
- Faus pitched 6.0 innings, allowing four hits, one earned run and one walk
- Faus tied her career high of five strikeouts in a single game
- In their last 16 games, the Spartans have gone 9-7
- The last time the Spartans won a conference-opening series was in 2024 with a 2-1 series win over New Mexico
- The last time the Spartans took a series over UNLV was in 2023
UP NEXT: The Spartans will next travel to Phoenix, Ariz., to take on the currently undefeated No. 23 Grand Canyon in a three-game weekend series starting on Friday, March 20. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. and can be watched on Mountain West Network.
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