Softball: Spartans split doubleheader with San Diego State

spartans

By Max Miller — Reporter

San Jose State softball (5-17) ended its six-game losing streak with a 1-0 win against San Diego State (19-12) in the first game of a doubleheader. 

The Spartans lost the second game 1-0 on a walk-off single. The best takeaway from the games on Saturday is that the SJSU pitching staff shined.

During game one Senior pitcher Caroline Bowman threw a complete game and struck out four. Bowman limited the number of baserunners by only giving up six hits and did not walk a single batter. It took a while but Bowman got the monkey off of her back and earned her first win of the season. 

The SJSU offense only managed three hits for the game but Sophomore Jocylyn Vidal came up with the clutch RBI in the fifth inning. Vidal smacked a single up the middle which scored Sophomore Jackie Rookaird. Rookaird came on in the inning as a pinch-runner for senior catcher Grace Garvey. This move ended up being the most important decision of the game.

Junior Jenessa Ullegue got the start in game two and put together an excellent performance. She finished with 6.1 innings pitched and only gave up one run on four hits. Although four hits is not a lot, three of the four hits came in a row to start the bottom of the seventh inning. 

Two singles plus a bunt single loaded the bases with nobody out. SDSU hit a ground ball to second and the Spartans could only get the out at first base which allowed the winning run to score. 

The Spartans had their opportunity to score in the fifth inning in which they led off the inning with back-to-back singles. However, the Spartans weren’t able to move the runners up.

The Spartans will complete the three-game set against SDSU in the rubber match on Sunday with the first pitch at noon in San Diego.

Follow Max on Twitter @SJSUMaxMiller

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