Softball wins another MW series with 4-2 victory over SDSU in finale

Sunday, April 22

Fresno, Calif.

12:00 PM

Fresno State

29-16, 12-3

San Diego State

14-28, 5-10

San Diego State

Fresno State

Softball wins another MW series with 4-2 victory over SDSU in finale

4/22/2018 3:58:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

By: Andrew Tomsky / Assistant Director of Communications

FRESNO, Calif. – Kaitlyn Jennings had the two biggest hits in the game and had a career-high three RBIs and Danielle East improved to 7-2 in MW play as Fresno State claimed the rubber game against San Diego State, 4-2, on Sunday at Margie Wright Diamond.

Fresno State (29-16, 12-3 MW) has won all five MW series it has played so far this season and increased its lead atop the conference standings as San Jose State dropped to 11-6 in league games with a loss on Sunday. Picked to win the conference in the preseason coaches' poll, San Diego State (14-28, 5-10 MW) topped the 'Dogs on Friday but was held to just three runs over the last two games of the series.

East recorded her 10^th complete game of the season, allowing just two runs and striking out three. Her first strikeout on Sunday, which came against SDSU leadoff hitter Kiera Wright to start the game, established a new MW record for strikeouts by a freshman in conference games (watch). She has tallied 78 punch outs in nine league games, breaking the previous record of 75 set by New Mexico's Haley Punter in 2001. The overall (all classes) season record for strikeouts in MW games is 128.

How it Happened
After the strikeout to start the game San Diego State followed with a triple from Shelby Thompson and a double by Katie Byrd on consecutive pitches to take a quick 1-0 lead. The Aztecs followed with a single and had runners on the corners with one out but East stranded the pair.

The game remained 1-0 into the fourth inning as East and SDSU starter Marissa Moreno had strong starts. In the top of the fourth the Aztecs got a leadoff walk and, after a stolen base and a groundout, Zaria Mishek came through with a two-out RBI knock to give the Aztecs a 2-0 lead. Schuylar Broussard made another sensational diving catch at third to end the inning (watch).

The Bulldog offense came alive in the bottom of the fourth as Savannah McHellon had a leadoff single and the 'Dogs had two on and one out after a walk. The Aztecs went to reliever Alex Formby, who had thrown four hitless innings in relief on Saturday, but she walked Vanessa Hernandez to load the bases and then hit Broussard to force in a run from third. With two out and the bases still loaded Jennings lined an 0-2 pitch up the middle to score two runs and give the Bulldogs a 3-2 lead (watch).

SDSU threatened to tie the game in the top of the sixth as the tying run was on second base with two away before Miranda Rohleder made a spectacular over-the-shoulder catch in shallow right center field to keep the lead at 3-2 (watch). The 'Dogs had a pair of two out hits from Broussard and Dominique Jackson in the bottom of the sixth and added an insurance run as Jennings delivered another RBI single (watch). East then retired the side in order in the 7^th to finish the win.

Notable

East has totaled 136 strikeouts this season and has a shot at the MW freshman record for strikeouts in all games, which is 180. The Fresno State season record for strikeouts by a freshman is an astounding 448 from Morgan Melloh in 2008 (before Fresno State joined the Mountain West).
The Bulldogs have won 12 of their last 13 games overall and are now 17-6 on their home field this season.
Fresno State recorded its 21^st error-free game of the season and, for the second consecutive day, made several outstanding defensive plays on the infield.
With 29 total wins this year the 'Dogs are just one win shy of recoding the program's 37^th consecutive season with at least 30 wins.

Quotable

LF Kaitlyn Jennings

On the game…
"Everyone did a really good job getting on base. Their pitcher had a really good change up but towards the end we all started making some adjustments and did better with it."

On speaking with Coach Garza when down in the count 0-2 with the bases loaded…
"Usually when that kind of thing happens I get really high (energy) but she's helped me learn how to narrow my focus to the strike zone. I'm a lot better when I just trust myself so she reminded me to just trust what I've been doing all year and that really helped."

Coach Linda Garza

On coming back to win the series after a loss on Friday…
"Streaks are just things that happen. We we're proud to get to a place where we could win 10 games in a row and be where we needed to be and San Diego State made some adjustments and we deserved to get exactly what happened (on Friday); they were the better team. We asked our team to bounce back and be more resilient inside the box and we asked Dani and Sam to put us in positions where we could score some runs and win, and they both found ways to do that. I'm proud of this team; they're scrappy blue collar kids and they're willing to do the little things in order to win. This team is absolutely relentless when it comes to finding ways to win a ball game."

On the outlook going forward and the trip to Boise State…
"We have everything in front of us. If we want to win a conference championship it's up to us as a coaching staff and the players to have our best performance over the last nine games. It's easy to be motivated because we have something that we want. Everybody wants to find ways to beat us and they should – that's the way we want it. Our job is to find ways to do the things that we're capable of doing and if we do those things we'll put ourselves in positions to win. It's about one game at a time and right now we'll do everything we can to get prepared for Boise."

What's Next
Fresno State travels to Boise State for a big weekend series next Friday-Sunday. The Broncos are just two games behind the Bulldogs in the MW standings with a 10-5 league record and have the best overall record in the league this year at 31-13.

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