By Brianna Huffmaster (@bhuffmaster2024) – Spear Reporter | Photo courtesy of SJSU Athletics
San Jose State softball played its first tournament over the weekend at the NorCal Kickoff in Sacramento and Davis, Calif.
The first day of the tournament was Friday in Sacramento which resulted in back-to-back losses against Cal Poly and Sac State.
Game one against Cal Poly was a 15-0 blowout. Pitcher Mia Reynolds struck out two in her first game as a Spartan while Ahmiya Noriega hit her first double of the season.
Similar to the first game, the second game was a 8-0 loss to Sac State. While the team wasn’t able to produce any runs, Aubrie Thomas got on base with a walk and Reina Zermeno had her first hit of the season. Reynolds started back-to-back games and struck out one batter in the second game.
“Not the outcome we wanted today for our first two games of the season,” SJSU head coach Tammy Lohmann said. “But if I know anything about this team, they will regroup tonight, we’ll have a great plan tomorrow.”
On Saturday, the Spartans traveled to Davis and played another doubleheader against St. Mary’s and UC Davis.
The team lost 5-3 against St. Mary’s, but the offense found a spark as Thomas went 2-for-4 and knocked in the first run of the season. Shay McDowell finished 2-for-2 with two doubles.
On the mound, Lacie Ham came in during a two-on, no-out jam, but was able to work out of it by striking out two and forcing a ground out. She finished with six strikeouts over five innings.
Game two against UC Davis ended in a 7-2 loss, but McDowell hit her first home run as a Spartan.
The other run came from an RBI by Aneesa Almagues in the second inning. This came right after Ashley Rico hit her first triple of the season.
“What I loved about the team today was that there was a great improvement from yesterday,” Lohmann said. “Got to take them into tomorrow and continue to work on the small things.”
The final day on Sunday was successful as the Spartans earned their first win of the season in a walk-off fashion against Middle Tennessee State.
McDowell had a big game, going 2-for-4 with two RBI singles. The second RBI came with two outs in the seventh that resulted in the 3-2 walk-off win. She finished the tournament with a .455 batting average and .909 slugging percentage.
Ham threw her 11th career complete game, giving up two earned runs and throwing three strikeouts.
SJSU’s defense behind Ham caused Middle Tennessee State to strand nine on base.
Up next, SJSU softball will host the Silicon Valley I tournament next weekend at Spartan Softball Stadium.