By Brianna Huffmaster (@bhuffmaster2024) – Spear Reporter
Reina Zermeno celebrating on base after a big hit | Photo by Andrew Hartley – The Spear
San Jose State softball (6-8) played in the Judi Garman Classic tournament March 1-3 in Fullerton, Calif., finishing 1-4.
The first game against Long Beach State on Friday resulted in a 14-6 loss. This snapped the Spartans’ five-game winning streak.
The offense scored all six runs in the second and third innings. Ahmiya Noriega hit a 2-run homer in the second that started the rally. It was Noriega’s first home run of the season.
In the third inning, Reina Zermeno hit an RBI double to score Aubrie Thomas. The other three runs came from Long Beach State defensive errors. Zermeno, Shay McDowell, and Noriega were able to score from the errors to give the Spartans the 6-2 lead.
After the third inning, the bats were quiet. This caused Long Beach State to heat up and eventually score 11 runs.
Lacie Ham started the game and gave up 10 hits, 12 runs (nine earned runs) and two strikeouts through five innings.
“Tough loss today against Long Beach State,” SJSU head coach Tammy Lohmann said. “Team came out aggressive. But the wheels fell off the bus with the team today. I wasn’t happy with how we played in the last half of the game.”
The second day on Saturday was a doubleheader against Oregon State and Weber State.
The first game against Oregon State was an 8-0 loss. Offensively, the team couldn’t find ways to heat up. Zermeno and Ashley Rico were the only two Spartans to have hits.
Mia Reynolds started the game and had a final stat line of four hits, four runs and two strikeouts through 3.1 innings.
It seemed all was lost with the team in the beginning of the second game versus Weber State. The Spartans were down 5-0 in the third inning and the cold bats may have been a lingering result of Friday’s game. However, the offense finally found a spark with a five-run sixth inning and won 8-5.
Zermeno had a huge game with a 3-run RBI double and finished 3-for-4. McDowell also had a big offensive game, going 3-for-3 with an RBI single.
Other contributors to the offensive rally were Rico (RBI triple), Aneesa Almaguer (RBI single) and Makayla Freshour (2-for-3, first two-hit game as a Spartan).
Ham came in for relief and did not allow Weber State to score while striking out six. She earned her fourth win of the season.
“Great comeback game against Weber State after losing our first game this morning to Oregon State,” Lohmann said. “Fought hard, scored five runs in the sixth inning, had 12 hits, and had some great bats today by [McDowell, Zermeno and Freshour].”
The final day on Sunday was another doubleheader against DePaul and No. 18 UCLA. Both games ended in losses.
The first game against DePaul was a 3-1 loss, with the only run coming from an RBI single by Carly Cummings. Five Spartan runners were left on base.
On the mound, Reynolds pitched 4.2 innings, giving up two runs and three hits.
Going into the second game against No. 18 UCLA, the offense was quiet on both teams until the fourth inning. The Spartans lost 5-1 and the lone run came from a Zermeno solo home run.
Though the offense struggled the majority of the weekend, Zermeno finished with a .533 batting average, 1.000 slugging percentage and .533 on base percentage. She had eight hits, six RBIs and a home run in the five games played.
“Two hard losses today,” Lohmann said. “Lots of growth this weekend across the team, got to get back to work this week going into this next weekend.”
SJSU hopes to bounce back at home for the Silicon Valley Classic II tournament on March 8-10.