By Sara Biela (@sarabielaa ):
San Jose State softball received two crushing losses from the Wisconsin Badgers and Mississippi State Bulldogs, falling to 1-3 in the Mary Nutter Classic.
Once again, the Spartans (9-6) started out strong in their matchup against the Badgers (7-6) and kept the game knotted at zero until the sixth inning.
A leadoff single from Wisconsin’s third baseman Lauren Foster, a sacrifice bunt and two passed balls brought in UW’s lone unearned run.
SJSU went down 1-2-3 in the seventh and dropped its first of two games 1-0.
Junior Madison Aurin tossed 5.1 shutout innings and held the Badgers to four hits. Sophomore left fielder Kaelin Amrein had two of San Jose’s five hits.
The Spartans came out stronger offensively in their next game against the Bulldogs (12-2).
Senior Emma Entzminger led off the game with a single and later scored on a throwing error from MSU’s sophomore catcher Montana Davidson.
Freshman catcher Grace Garvey followed with an RBI single to bring in Aurin and made it 2-0 SJSU.
The Spartans made it 3-0 in the third when sophomore second baseman Cassidy Clark scored on freshman designated hitter Jacey Phipps’ RBI groundout.
The Bulldogs put their first two runs on the board in the bottom half of the inning. Junior center fielder Kat Moore’s RBI groundout and Davidson’s solo homer made it 3-2. The offense continued for MSU in the fifth as it added four more runs.
The Spartans added one run in the sixth that made it 6-4, but its scoring stopped after that. MSU senior Holly Ward held SJSU to one run in the last five innings.
Freshman Caroline Bowman (6-0) pitched her shortest starting outing since the first game of the season against South Dakota. She went 3.0 IP and gave up two runs on three hits. Aurin (1-6) was given the loss.
The Spartans will look to end the tournament on a winning note as they face their highest ranked opponent yet in the No. 5 Oregon Ducks tomorrow at 11:30 a.m.