By Daniel Reedy:
With an explosive offense, solid pitching and excellent defense, San Jose State again displayed why it is among the best teams in the conference.
The Spartans (21-10) won both games of today’s home doubleheader at Mission College against Princeton (4-9), defeating the Tigers 4-1 and 9-4. The win boosted SJSU above their 20-win conference opponents Boise State and Fresno State.
“We hit the ball pretty well in [Game 2] and I thought we moved the ball well in [Game 2],” said SJSU’s head coach Peter Turner. “We played pretty good defense, it almost got away from us in the sixth inning and that shouldn’t happen. It wasn’t our sharpest performance, but it was good enough to beat them.”
In today’s 14 innings, the Spartans defense committed zero errors, despite continuing to start two freshmen middle infielders in Georgia Blair and Cassidy Clarke.
“[Blair and Clarke] are two of the best defense players I’ve had,” Turner said. “For freshmen, they are extremely reliable. They play the game very smart.”
The two aren’t only performing in the field. Blair went 3-6 today with a double and Clarke 2-5 with two RBIs and scored two runs.
It is quite difficult to not highlight ace Katelyn Linford as she remains dominant. Linford threw eight and half innings today, giving up one run on just two hits and left the field picking up her conference-leading 14th win in the process. After throwing a complete game in the first contest, Linford returned in relief and picked up her fourth save of the season, also a Mountain West-high.
Freshman Kaelin Amrein whacked the longest hit of the day, a three-run bomb in the fifth inning and the first of her Spartan career.
“I’ve been in a little bit of a slump lately it was good to get out of it,” Amrein said. “It felt really good.”
Earlier in the Amrein ripped an RBI double and she ended with a day high-four RBIs despite only playing in one of the games. Amrein is now hitting .392 over 20 games.
Outfielder Casey Watt went 3-3 in the first game and finished the day 4-6, scored four runs and swiped her sixth stolen base of the season. Watt is now up to .365 and leads the team with 20 runs scored. She is also 6-6 on stolen-base attempts.
First baseman Madison Aurin was also a key contributor, scoring two runs and finishing the day with three RBIs. Aurin went 3-7 and leads the team with 35 hits.
Senior Collette Riggs started Game 2 and threw four innings, giving up two runs on two hits and two walks. Riggs and Linford combined to hold Princeton’s lineup to 2-19 (.105) in the later game.
Fellow senior Emily Rogers came in to relieve Riggs and gave up two earned over one and a third. Rogers struggled, allowing three hits and two walks in the nine batters she faced. It had been two weeks since Rogers’ last outing in which she started, gave up four runs and failed to complete the first frame.
The Tigers had a lead for just one half inning on Thursday. In the second game, designated player Mikayla Blaska hit a triple and was knocked in by shortstop Allison Harvey’s single. Harvey followed and scored off a sac-fly from Kaitlyn Waslawski.
Harvey was one of two Tigers players who hit safely in both games. The other, Marissa Reynolds, went 1-2 in both games and is eighth in the Ivy League in batting average. After leading the conference in walks last season, Reynolds ranks third in the Ivy League in on-base percentage.
But the short-lived lead was diminished as SJSU responded in the latter half of the frame with five runs.
The Spartans now get the weekend off and it seems the break is “needed.”
“We need a break,” Turner said, then cracked up “I need four days away from them and I’m sure they need four days away from me.”
It doesn’t appear as though the days off are met with much resentment.
“It’s always good to get a break,” Watt said. “It’s nice to have a few days in the middle of the season.”
The Spartans may want some time off or in Watt’s words, “a couple days to be home, be with your family then come back and take care of business,” but they rolling right now and are 11 for their last 12.
SJSU returns to action on March 29 in Los Angeles for one game against Loyola Marymount before diving into the heart of conference play.