Aggies come back to win one of three
by tavin stucki and jason borba
sports editor and staff writer
The Aggies recovered from a pair of defeats in a doubleheader Friday and beat San Jose State in the third and final game of the series Saturday.
USU 2, SJSU 11
Things didn’t start off well for Utah State, as starting pitcher Shelbi Tyteca gave up a home run to leadoff hitter Markesha Collins to put San Jose State up 1-0 in the first inning.
The second inning was a doppelganger of the first, as junior second baseman Cheryl Freitas took Tyteca’s 1-1 pitch deep over the left-field fence to put SJSU up 2-0.
Then disaster struck in the top of the fourth when the Spartans scored six runs on five hits.
Aggie head coach Carissa Millsap-Kalaba said the game was fairly even until that point.
“We had some missed opportunities,” she said. “Take away that one inning, take away some mental errors, I think it’s a whole different situation, and then it just kind of got out of hand.”
Aggie freshman center fielder Hailey Froton homered in the bottom of the inning to make it 8-1 and keep Utah State from being mercy ruled.
The deficit proved too much to overcome, and the Aggies eventually lost 11-2.
USU 1, SJSU 9
SJSU pitcher Amanda Pridmore started in the circle in both games of the double header. Her pitching and a pair of runs in the first and third innings put San Jose State up 2-0.
“(Pridmore) did a good job mixing it up in the second game and taking advantage of her rise ball,” Millsap-Kalaba said. “We didn’t do such a good job about staying disciplined and satying off of it.”
In the top of the fifth, with runners on second and third, Spartan sophomore catcher Jessica Garcia homered to left field to extend the lead to 5-0.
San Jose State scored four more in the next inning to go up 9-0, putting Utah State against the wall with the eight runs after five innings mercy rule.
Aggie third baseman Kelley Kanashiro hit a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded to bat in freshman Jolene Koons from third, to score the only Aggie run in the game.
USU 6, SJSU 4
The Aggies managed to bounce back Saturday by defeating the Spartans 6-4.
The game didn’t start off well for the home team as two errors by the Aggies proved to be costly. The Spartans were able to capitalize on the errors and put two runs on the board in the top of the first inning to take a 2-0 lead.
“We had two unfortunate errors but Shelbi did a really good job of coming back and getting the outs, and we kind of picked up the pace from there,” Milsap-Kalaba said.
In the bottom half of the inning the Aggies were able to retaliate. Christine Thomsen made it safely to first base after an overthrown ball went over the head of San Jose first baseman Alex Strange. Thomsen advanced to second on a bunt by Samantha Miller, who was thrown out at first.
Once again, Thomsen advanced to third base after Kasandra Uchida hit. Froton was hit by a pitch, and Kelly Kaneshiro was walked, to load the bases for the Aggies.
A wild pitch by Jennifer Ames of San Jose allowed Thomsen to cross home plate to cut the lead to 2-1. Allison Lenzora later stuck out, leaving two on base.
In the bottom of the second with Tatem Day already on first, Koons singled up the left field line. Thomsen then hit a double which allowed Day to score and tie up the game. Miller later had an RBI bunt to give the Aggies a 3-2 lead.
Tyteca struggled in the circle in the fifth inning, giving up both an RBI double and triple to give the Spartans a 4-3 lead. Tyteca was relieved by Dani Chaplin, who walked the first batter she faced. Chaplin was able to strike out the next batter and close the inning with two runners left on base.
In the bottom of the inning, the Aggies regained the lead following a two-run home run by Froton. With Uchida already on base, Froton blasted the ball over the right-field fence to give the Aggies a 5-4 lead.
“I told her if it’s within your zone, drill,” Millsap-Kalaba said. “That’s exactly what she did, and she drilled it hard. I don’t think she was expecting it to go over the fence.”
In the top half of the sixth inning, Chaplin retired three straight batters to keep the Aggies in the lead.
USU tacked on one more run in the sixth inning to take a 6-4 advantage. Thomsen scored for the second time in the game on a Uchida double. Froton had a c
hance to extend the lead, but she struck out with a runner on second.
In the final inning, Chaplin once again made easy work of San Jose’s next three batters and put an end to the Aggies’ five-game losing streak.
“When you bring Chaplin in during a mess, I can trust her,” Millsap-Kalaba said. “She does really well in those situations.”
With the win the Aggies improve to 15-30 overall and 3-12 in WAC play.
The Aggies will host Idaho State on Tuesday. The teams were originally set to meet April 18, but the game was postponed because of rain.
– tavin.stucki@aggiemail.usu.edu,
– jborba@aggiemail.usu.edu