Caroline Bowman (Photo by Ernie Gonzalez)
By Ricardo Garcia (@SJSURicardoG) — Reporter
The quest for a flawless home field defense is still alive
San Jose State (7-5-0, 0-0 MW) softball outclassed the Santa Clara Broncos (7-9-0, 0-0 WCC) 12-4 in its third game of the SVC Classic I.
The Spartans capped off a comeback win with an offensive explosion in the sixth inning, where they put up eight total runs to put the mercy rule in effect and sent the Broncos packing early.
Santa Clara drew first blood, securing two runs in the first inning off two Spartan throwing errors and two more in the second thanks to a triple from sophomore outfielder Ashley Trierweiler.
While the defense struggled, the offense suffered a similar fate with the Spartans failing to find their stride to get the bats cracking early on.
SJSU managed to contain the red-hot Bronco offense and added two runs of their own to make it a two-run game late into the fourth.
The Spartans found themselves on offense putting a runner in scoring position giving senior third basemen Alyssa Graham a chance to put her team back in the game
Graham did just that with a two-run bomb that shook the stadium and silenced the rowdy Santa Clara Dugout. Graham spoke about her approach during the at-bat.
“I was looking for my pitch, and what I want to hit instead of the pitcher’s ball,” said Graham. “It was just really important to do my job and move the runner as many spots as I could.”
After a scoreless fifth inning for both teams, the contest went to the sixth inning in a deadlock with both squads looking for any sort of edge to take a lead.
With a quick three outs due to a fizzled-out Bronco offense, it was time for the surging Spartan bats to get hot and complete the comeback. SJSU did just that, putting up 12 unanswered runs in four innings.
This game marks the third consecutive win for the Spartans this weekend as well as the Spartan’s record for runs scored in a game for the 2022 season. The Broncos have now lost two straight and will look to bounce back against Cal Poly.
SJSU will try to use this win as momentum for its last two matches of the tournament against Sacramento State and Saint Mary’s. Head Coach Tammy Lohmann gave her thoughts on the match as well as the team’s mindset for future matches.
“I love the fact that we were able to give up four and come back and compete and put 8 on them,” said Lohmann. “It’s one game at a time and one pitch at a time so you enjoy this game now but tomorrow is a new day.”
The Spartans will get an early start tomorrow with their first match scheduled at 9:30 a.m. and their second match is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. at the Spartan Softball Field.