By Benny Garcia — Reporter
San Jose State softball (3-8) will take on the University of the Pacific Tigers (5-7) at Spartan Softball Stadium in San Jose, Calif on Wednesday.
It is no secret that the Spartans have struggled up to this point in the season with their latest loss coming against UCLA. SJSU was blown out 14-0, pushing their losing streak to three games.
The Spartans were dominated by UCLA pitching.
In the loss against the Bruins, SJSU could only manage to get on base twice, with their lone base hit coming in the top of the second inning.
They were struck out nine times in 16 at-bats.
The Spartans’ pitching could not hold back the offensive prowess of the Bruins either.
UCLA scored in every inning of the game with their highest-scoring inning coming in the fourth where senior pitcher Caroline Bowman could only get one out, but not before she gave up seven runs.
The Bruins got on base 15 times in their victory, collecting nine extra-base hits with three of those coming by way of the homerun ball.
Nonetheless, the Spartans must focus on the opponent ahead.
The Pacific Tigers have had a lackluster offense this season, hitting for an average of .226 through 12 games.
Their lone bright spot in the lineup has been utility-player junior Carly Lucchetti who is hitting .447 with 17 hits, four doubles and seven runs scored.
Pacific Tigers pitching has been reliable so far, as they have an earned run average of 3.81 in 85 innings.
Two-way junior Bethany Hammer has pitched three complete games in seven outings with an earned run average of 3.79 and an opponent’s batting average of .229.
While their pitching has been good up to this point, the defense has been abysmal.
At this point in the season, Pacific Tigers defense has committed 20 errors with the most coming from freshman infielder Rian Dirmeyer with eight.
Catch the game on Wednesday with the first pitch coming at 4:00 p.m. on the Mountain West Network.
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