By Max Miller — Reporter
Despite the much-anticipated meeting with No. 2 Washington being cancelled, San Jose State Softball took two of three against Saint Francis University, Saint Mary’s College and UC Santa Barbara the Silicon Valley Classic this weekend.
On Friday, the Spartans (21-5) took down Saint Francis (5-18), 1-0. SJSU entered the contest looking to get back on track after its loss against Pacific earlier in the week.
“We’ve been playing very well,” head coach Peter Turner said. “We were really tired on Tuesday against Pacific and it showed.”
Sophomore pitcher Janessa Ullegue (3-1) was a star and she needed to be. She finished a complete-game two-hit shutout and secured the win with limited offensive support.
Just like the first Silicon Valley Classic three weeks ago, the Spartans would have a doubleheader on Saturday, however they did not sweep the weekend this time. On Saturday the Spartans finished 1-1 overall.
SJSU defeated Saint Mary’s College (7-16) in the first game Saturday 5-1.
Junior pitcher Caroline Bowman (3-0) started the game and pitched 5.1 innings while only allowing four hits. Ullegue was called in to pitch the final 1.2 innings and earned her first save of the season.
“I think we are really close to opening it up,” Bowman said. “We were getting a lot of hard but unlucky hits.”
Against UCSB (11-15), the story was much different as SJSU was frustrated the entire game. The Gauchos won the game 4-0, which gave them their sixth straight win.
Freshman Ilona Sullivan (4-1) started the game but did not last long. She only pitched three innings and gave up two runs.
Bowman was tasked with finishing the last four innings and after 59 pitches, she gave up two runs on five hits. Bowman threw a total of 136 pitches for both games.
“Not bad,” Bowman said about how her arm felt. “More than I have pitched in a while.”
Head coach Peter Turner wasn’t satisfied after his team was shutout for the first time all year.
“We are just not playing with the kind of energy we are needing to play with,” Turner said. “We are sneaking by some games that should be a larger margin.”
Senior outfielder Makayla Englestad suffered an undisclosed injury Friday and according to Turner, will be out indefinitely.
In Saturday’s finale, SJSU faced No. 2 Washington (23-2). The game was interrupted by a pair of rain delays lasting over two hours combined.
The Huskies held a 4-0 lead through four innings of play, however since the game did not reach five frames, no result was given to either team.
The Spartans begin conference play next weekend as they take on the University of New Mexico next Friday at home.
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