By Autumn Blue (@AutumnBlue3) – SB Beat Reporter
The San Jose State women’s softball team (21-27, 6-15 MW) snapped its eight-game losing streak against the Santa Clara University Broncos (18-27, 4-5 MW) Wednesday afternoon in Santa Clara.
The game went relatively well as both teams got a feel for each other during the first two innings.
It wouldn’t be until the top of the third inning senior third baseman Alyssa Graham came up to bat and hit a homerun for the Spartans putting them in the lead, 1-0. This was Graham’s seventh homerun of the season.
During the bottom of the third SJSU switched out pitchers going from senior pitcher Caroline Bowman to freshman first baseman Ashley Goard.
SCU couldn’t respond during the third inning but got a run in the fourth inning, tying the game 1-1.
The Spartans continued again, changing pitchers from Goard to freshman pitcher Lacie Ham at the beginning of the bottom of the fifth inning.
The sixth inning would be what clutched SJSU’s win. Junior first baseman Karizma Bergesen was hit by the pitch taking her to first base when sophomore outfielder Malia Luna got a hit advancing Bergesen to second base while Luna took first.
Freshman utility Aubrie Thomas took Bergesen’s place on second base while junior Jillian Figueroa came up to bat. Figueroa’s hit gave Thomas the chance to run to home plate while Luna ran to third, 2-1.
“To put Aubrie in at second, I always kind of feel like she’s my go-to person, if I can put her on base we can find a way to score and it just happens to play out that way,” said head coach Tammy Lohmann.
The pressure was on for the Spartans as there was one out remaining but senior second baseman Jessica Giacoma did not let this discourage her as she got a hit bringing Luna back home, 3-1.
The sixth inning ended with two Spartans on base but SJSU was now in the lead.
SJSU had one more pitcher change during the bottom of the sixth inning as Ham was then replaced by senior outfielder Jenessa Ullegue.
“To get all four pitchers in this game allows them to get some innings in from throughout the week. I think that’s tough to do when you’re only getting two or one innings to pitch, so to make that transition back and forth, I think they did a great job with that,” said Lohmann.
The Broncos were not able to respond to the Spartans during the last two innings of the evening.
Ullegue closed out the game against SCU and made sure the Spartans secured the win, 3-1.
SJSU will be playing its final games on May 12th-14th against the Utah State University Aggies in Logan, Utah.