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Story and photos by Liz Alper
February 16, 2017 (San Diego) - Due to rain, what was supposed to be SDSU softball’s weekend-long hosting of the 27th annual Campbell/Cartier Classic is now reduced to three games today and one on Tuesday. The Aztecs hosted UC Riverside earlier today and tonight, they hosted the Huskies from Washington. The No. 8 Huskies faced UC Riverside earlier tonight.
It was a quiet ballgame until the top half of the fourth. After the Huskies’ senior designated player, Casey Stangel, singled, junior first baseman Julia DePonte smacked a ball into left center that flew out of the park and gave the purple and gold a 2-0 lead. The Huskies got one more on freshman second baseman Sys Bates’ Dac groundout that scored junior third baseman Taylor Van Zee and Washington led 3-0.
The Aztecs were finally able to get their bats going in their half of the fourth. After back-to-back singles by sophomores Molly Sturdivant and second baseman Katie Byrd, a West Hills High product, junior designated player Taylor Stewart drove freshman pinch runner Kristen Parker home with an RBI single to make the score 3-1 and get the Aztecs on the board.
Everything changed in the bottom of the fifth. With two outs and two runners on, junior catcher Jenavee Peres hit an absolute blast, a three-run moonshot to left field to give the Aztecs a 4-3 lead.
The Santee native wasn't done yet. In the sixth, Byrd hit a solo shot to right field and the Aztecs got some insurance and led 5-3.
SDSU’s lead was cut to one in the top of the seventh with Washington sophomore catcher Morgan Flores’ solo homer to make the score 5-4. The Aztecs loaded the bases and Stangel singled to bring home the tying run and make the score 5-5. The Huskies got the go-ahead run after a bad throw to first by freshman shortstop Shelby Thompson caused Van Zee to be safe and with that, the go-ahead run came home, putting Washington up 6-5. They hung on to win 6-5 and move to 6-1, while the Aztecs fall to 3-4. SDSU finished with eight hits against Washington’s nine, but Thompson's two bobbles counted as errors.
The Aztecs will play the last game of the Campbell/Cartier Classic on Tuesday against Siena. First pitch will be thrown at 6:00 p.m.