Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
California<BR>(Fiesta Bowl Tournament)
No. 16 Softball Opens Season Victoriously
2/8/2002 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Feb. 8, 2002
PHOENIX, Ariz. - The Fresno State softball team, ranked 16th in the USA Today/NFCA Top 25 preseason poll, notched a 1-0 win over fifth-ranked California to open the 2002 season at the ASU Fiesta Bowl Classic.
Improving to 17-8 overall in season openers and 13-4 under 17th-year head coach Margie Wright in season openers, the Bulldogs took advantage of two freshmen arms in right-handed pitcher Jamie Southern and shortstop Leticia "LT" Pacheco.
Southern, who is coming off a medical redshirt season, pitched a four-hit shutout despite walking 10 Golden Bear batters for her first live action since Feb. 17, 2001. Receiving only 20 called strikes out of 152 pitches thrown, Southern did not lose her edge as she has thrown 19.0 consecutive shutout innings with 21 strikeouts in 19 innings of work dating back to last season.
Pacheco knocked in the game-winning hit in the bottom of the fifth inning with a two-out RBI single to left center that scored sophomore right fielder Mitzi Ing from second.
"Jamie did an awesome job," said head coach Margie Wright who is 21 victories shy of being the only NCAA Division I coach to collect 1,000 Division I wins. "People forget that she has not played since nearly a year ago and for her to perform the way she did in the circle today was outstanding. Fighting to find the umpire's strike zone, she showed what she was made of after coming back from a drastic injury.
"Leticia came through big and played outstanding at short for us," Wright said. "She took advantage of knocking in a runner when we had one on base. She is a pistol who is fun to watch.
"I thought, overall, we had outstanding defensive plays," Wright concluded. "This was a good win and a good way to start the season off."
Falling to 2-2 on the year, Cal's Jocelyn Forest took the loss after pitching a three-hitter and striking out five.
Fresno State (1-0) continues tournament play as its meets No. 10 CS Fullerton (1-1) this afternoon at 1:30 pm (MST).
