By Haddy Barghouti – Spear Reporter | Sophomore outfielder Carly Cummings gets ready to swing the bat during SJSU’s 4-0 win over Nevada on April 12. (Photo by Abby Westrope – Spear Photographer)
San Jose State women’s softball (22-24) put on an offensive show during Senior Night, defeating Boise State (30-20) 10-2 on Sunday.
SJSU had five seniors who were honored pregame, including Mia Reynolds, who allowed just two runs on 25 at-bats.
Seniors Anessa Almaguer, Aubrie Thomas, Jules Ronquillo, and Taylor Squires were also among the seniors who were given a special ceremony pregame.
“They’re a special group, this is a group that I recruited,” head coach Tammy Lohmann said.
Lohmann was with the group of girls since their first year.
“I can’t believe four years went by so fast,” Thomas said. “It was a perfect way to end it.”
Despite senior night being the story for San Jose, the Broncos’ goal was to play spoiler early on. They started the game with a two-run home run, giving them an early 2-0 advantage.
“I think they trust their defense and they know early in the game we can come back and score some runs,” Lohmann said.
The Spartans scored a run of their own after Thomas recorded an RBI double.
Thomas had a big game, as she recorded two hits and one run.
The second and third innings were both quiet offensively by both teams, but the Spartans’ offense found its firepower in the bottom of the fourth, as they went on to score seven runs.
“It’s just incredible because we’ve been struggling throughout the year with runners in scoring position and just having quality at the bats and we just exploded today,” Lohmann said. “Everything they’ve been working really hard on and really working and being diligent about has really shown today.”
The Spartans had nine players who recorded a hit, while the Broncos had five.
Junior Reina Zermeno led the team on offense, recording three hits and scoring two runs.
Junior Shay McDowell also led the team with RBIs with three, and also recorded a hit and run of her own.
The Spartans had 15 total hits, while Boise State had seven.
“It’s easy to build off of each other after innings like that,” McDowell said. “As soon as we pass the bat and string hits together, it’s easy to keep the energy up and try to bury them to run twice.”
McDowell helped the Spartans score 10 runs, which was their second-highest total this season, the first being 12 against Mountain West rivals on March 14.
“It’s really just playing simple softball and not going up there trying to hit home runs every single swing,” Thomas said. “We were just trying to piece some hits together and once you do that the defense goes crazy.”
The Spartans’ defense has not allowed more than three runs in 10 straight games, their biggest defensive stretch of the season.
This win marks the second time that the Spartans have swept a series this year.
With this win, the Spartans have clinched a spot in the Mountain West tournament, which starts on May 8 in San Diego.
“I want them to go out and compete and continue to grind out and put everything on the field,” Lohmann said.
In the first game of a three game series, the Spartans took a 2-1 loss against SDSU Thursday.
They will continue the series against SDSU in game two at 6 p.m. today, at the SDSU Softball Stadium.
