Michigan State University
San Diego
Softball Splits in San Diego
3/25/2000 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 25, 2000
San Diego, Calif. - The Michigan State softball team split with San Diego and San Diego State in the second day of the Aztec Invitational at San Diego State. The Spartans fall to 19-12 on the season. The team opens Big Ten play next weekend at Purdue.
In the first game, MSU got seven strikeouts out of Erica Strutz as she won her eighth game of the season. The Spartans scored first as Shealee Dunavan singled to lead off the first inning. She advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored after successive sacrifice bunts by Margaret Hollis and Tiffany Wallace. MSU scored again in the fifth as Lacy Hauxhurst singled in the leadoff spot. Demita Clark came in as the pinch runner. An Amanda Melton grounder moved her to second and she scored off a Carrie Fry RBI single.
The Toreros scored a run in the top of the fourth and then tied the game in the top of the seventh as Jade Quentin hit a single to leftfield and Christina Byrne beat the throw home. Becky Gray came in to pitch for the Spartans in the sixth inning and faced four batters before getting into a bases-loaded jam. Strutz reentered the game and struck out the final batter of the inning.
The Spartans went down in order in the bottom of the seventh, necessitating extra innings. Strutz put the Toreros down in order in the top of the eighth and the Spartans won the game as pinch runner Margaret Schick moved to third on a Sandy Lewis sacrifice bunt and scored the game winner on a passed ball.
In the second game of the day San Diego State held the Spartans scoreless for the second day in a row, winning 4-0. Tiffany Wallace scored both of MSU's hits in the game. Pitcher Keri DeJong held the Aztecs hitless and scoreless until the fifth inning when SDSU got on the board. San Diego State got another run in the sixth to go up 2-0. The Aztecs started off the top of the seventh with two baserunners after a hit by a pitch and a single. Becky Gray came on in relief and forced the next batter into a grounder but overthrew third base on the pickup and two runs. Gray settled down to retire the next three batters.
The Spartans had the beginning of a two-out rally when Wallace got her second hit of the day but Margaret Hollis flied out to second to end the game.
GAME 1 R H E San Diego 000 100 10 2 7 1 Michigan State 010 010 01 3 6 1
WP: Strutz, MSU (8-3)
LP: Lopez, SD (10-11)
E: S. Collo, SD, Phillips, MSU
LOB: SD, 11, MSU, 3
2B: McBay, SD
SB: Thomas, MSU
SH: Skidmore, SD, S. Collo, SD, Hollis, MSU, Wallace, MSU, Lewis, MSU
GAME 2 R H E
San Diego State 000 011 2 4 4 1
Michigan State 000 000 0 0 3 2
WP: Durazo, SDSU (10-6)
LP: DeJong, MSU (9-4)
E: Labor, SDSU, Melton, MSU, Gray, MSU
LOB: SDSU, 7, MSU, 3
SB: Labor, SDSU
SH: Gutierrez, SDSU, Labor, SDSU, Ehrsam, SDSU, Hollis, MSU
