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San Diego State Hammers BYU, 10-4 Aztecs secure birth in Saturday's title game.
May 10, 2002
PROVO, Utah - In the final game of day 2 of the 2002 Mountain West Conference Softball Championship, No. 1-seed San Diego State (41-21-1) defeated No. 5-seed BYU (30-23), 10-4, to earn a spot in Saturday's title game. The Aztecs will face the winner of Utah and Colorado State Saturday at 2 p.m. MDT for the conference crown. The Utes and Rams play Saturday at 11:30 a.m. in a rematch of Friday's Colorado State 3-1 upset victory over the No. 2-seeded Utes. The Rams are the tournament's sixth and lowest seed. The Aztecs struck first Friday with three hits and three runs off BYU starter Niki Andersen. Joann Figueroa hit a single to left field. Tiffany Goudy hit a double to score Figueroa. After a fielding error by the Cougars, Kelcy Murphy doubled to left field to score two more unearned runs for San Diego State.
In the bottom of the first, the Cougars put two on base with no outs, but MWC Pitcher of the Year Bre DeSanta struck out the heart of the BYU lineup to end any threat to the 3-0 lead. Leftfielder Kellie Nordhagen made a spectacular diving catch on a foul ball to end the second inning.
In the bottom of the third inning, Megan Johnson and Liz VanderLinden hit two straight singles to start the inning. After a sacrifice bunt by senior Kari Pringle and an intentional walk to Oli Keohohou, junior Brooke Cadiente hit a grand slam to give the Cougars a 4-3 lead. The home run puts her in double digits with 10 on the season, marking her first home run at home and first since March 7. In the top of the fifth inning, the Aztecs scored two runs of their own off two doubles -- one by Goudy, her second of the game -- and the other by catcher Amber Grahlman. After a walk and a wild pitch by reliever Ariel Capra of BYU, Grahlman brought Goudy and Murphy home to give the lead back to San Diego State 5-4. In the sixth, the Aztecs extended their lead to 8-3 by loading the bases after two singles and an intentional walk by new reliever Cynthia Fallowfield of BYU. Sarah Hershman hit a ball that was bobbled by second base and allowed Summer Ehrsham and Nordhagen to score for SDSU. Murphy then singled through the right side to bring in Goudy for her third RBI of the game. Goudy finished 2-3 with one RBI, three runs scored and a walk. Nordhagen added another run by smashing a triple to right field to score pinch runner Jenn Funk. Figueroa brought in Nordhagen with an RBI single to extend the lead 10-4. Nordhagen finished the game 3-5 with one RBI and two runs scored. In all, San Diego State smashed 14 hits on the night while giving up no errors. MWC Freshman of the Year DeSanta (20-8) pitched all seven innings, striking out seven in the process. Sophomore Ariel Capra (12-8) picked up the loss in four innings on the mound.
Box score (NCAA)
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