By Annabelle Del Bosque — Staff Writer
San Jose State softball’s (13-9) winning momentum continued on Thursday as it mercy ruled the University of Massachusetts-Lowell 9-1 to open the Spartan Invitational.
Both teams got off to a slow start until UMass-Lowell hit a RBI single to take the 1-0 lead in the third.
In the bottom half of the inning, the Spartans came back with a two-run double from sophomore catcher Grace Garvey.
“I just knew people were on base and I needed to execute to get the game going,” Garvey said.
Freshman infielder Arianna Miranda increased the lead to 3-1 as she reached on a fielding error as Garvey crossed the plate.
The scoring continued as freshman pitcher Jenessa Ullegue came through with a two-run single and extended the lead to 5-1.
Sophomore infielder Rayohna Sagapolu drove in another run on a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning.
SJSU ended the game by scoring three runs in the sixth inning to enforce the mercy rule. Junior infielder Cassidy Clark made it 7-1 with an RBI single, followed by Sagapolu’s two-run double.
“Honestly, I thought we hit the ball really well,” head coach Peter Turner said.
Ullegue held the River Hawks to one run on 5 hits in her 6 innings pitched.
The Spartans will continue the tournament with a doubleheader against UMass-Lowell (7-8) at 12 p.m. and Iona College (0-8) at 2 p.m.
Follow Annabelle on Twitter @BosqueAnnabelle