By Zoë Woodward – (Spear Reporter) Senior infield, Ahmiya Noriega, at bat for the Spartans on Feb. 14. (Photo by Zoë Woodward – Spear Photographer)
San Jose State softball (1-7, 0-0 MW) lost the rematch with Illinois State (6-4, 0-0 MWC), 11-5 at home in its Silicon Valley Classic 1 campaign.
The Redbirds freshman designated player, Morgan Calhoun, scored the only home run of the match to start its comeback from two down in the top of the third inning, causing another devastating defeat for the Spartans.
Calhoun was welcomed back to home plate by her teammates and gave the visitors a 3-2 lead.
Despite starting a comeback in the third inning, it was the fourth inning that helped Illinois State secure the win by scoring six runs to SJSU’s zero.
Even though the Spartans gave away runs in the third inning, the defense did make a good play at third base, preventing Illinois from taking a further lead.
At the beginning of the game, it looked as though the Spartans had turned their performance around from Friday’s matches, as they displayed a promising performance on both offense and defense.
“I think my big motto this year is to compete. I’ve reiterated it almost every pitch, every play,” sophomore catcher Sarah Deplitch said, “Everything matters in this game, cause you know whoever competes and fights is going to win.”
On the defensive side of the ball, they made a fantastic catch deep in right field and caused the visitors to have no hits in the first inning, to the Spartans two runs scored.
Sophomore catcher Taylor Chillingworth, hit to right outfield, putting Illinois State under pressure. This allowed junior outfielder Carly Cummings to make it home and regain their lead 4-3 in the third inning.
In an attempt to slow down the scoring, SJSU brought in junior pitcher Bella Rodriguez. Much to the Spartans dismay this didn’t help the situation, and they did end up switching her out later in the game too.
“We start off hot, we have just got to continue. You can never score enough runs in this game,” SJSU head coach Tammy Lohmann said. “I loved the girls’ fight tonight, I loved their competitiveness, they came out.”
The home side had left themselves with too much to do in the last two innings, resulting in a 11-5 score at the end of the fifth inning.
SJSU will need to refocus, clear their heads and put this loss behind them quickly, as they have a match against Utah State later this afternoon at the Spartan Softball Complex.
