By Chris Estrada
San Jose State softball (32-16, 16-7 MW) held on to defeat the Utah State Aggies, (18-31, 7-14 MW) 7-5 with a pair of two-run home runs to lead the offense.
Junior Madison Aurin pitched her 13th complete game to get win No. 16 on the season.
Similar to Saturday’s matchup, SJSU jumped out in front with a two-run lead in the first inning. Aurin, the cleanup hitter, hit a sac-fly and freshman Desiree Reyes knocked in Cassidy Clark with an RBI hit.
Utah State scored a run each of the first two innings to knot the game at two.
Junior catcher Alexandra Luna broke the tie in the fourth with a two-run home run. She was 0-18 coming into that at-bat and couldn’t have picked a better time for her first hit on the year.
The Spartans extended the lead to 5-2 with a two-out RBI double from sophomore second baseman Cassidy Clark.
In the top half of the sixth, outfielder Jacey Phipps hit her fourth home run on the year. A two-run shot gave SJSU a 7-2 cushion that would be huge later on.
The Aggies did not go down without a fight. Down to their final out, third baseman Amee Aarhus knocked in two runs with a triple to right center field to make it a 7-5 ballgame.
With the tying run at the plate, Aurin got a lineout to second to end the game.
SJSU remains in second place because the first place Boise State Broncos also won their Sunday game.
The quest for first place will continue on Tuesday when the Spartans will take on Nevada in Reno for their final regular season game.
Follow Chris on Twitter @estradadotc