AZTECS SOFTBALL SCORES A WIN IN WALK-OFF FASHION

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SDSU Downs Old Conference Foe BYU, 1-0
 
By Ryan Schuler
 
March 8, 2012 (San Diego)--For six and a half innings, the game remained scoreless. It was an old-fashioned pitcher’s duel: San Diego State’s Rebecca Arbino versus BYU’s Hannah Howell, squaring off at the SDSU softball stadium on March 1. Not until the bottom of the seventh inning did the first run of the game cross the plate. It proved the gam
e-winning run. 

SDSU senior Ashley Rose lined a pitch over the head of the BYU right fielder to score junior Tiffany Corder with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, giving the Aztecs the 1-0 victory. 

 
This game carried extra weight. It was the first meeting between the old rivals since the Cougars left the Mountain West Conference prior to this school year. SDSU wanted to show the Cougars that their decision to leave the Mountain West was not a smart one.
 
“We wanted to crush them (the Cougars),” Rose said. “This is their first year not in conference, so we wanted to send them a message, ‘This is what you’re missing in the Mountain West.’”
 
The result also turned out to be the fourth one-run decision in the past five meetings between the teams.
 
“This is very typical of a BYU-San Diego State softball game,” SDSU head coach Kathy Van Wyk said. “We have great respect for each other. Both defenses hung in there until we found a way to push a run across.”
 
Arbino pitched a complete-game shutout, going seven innings and allowing just five hits and two walks to go along with eight strikeouts. The win pushes Arbino’s pitching record to 3-3. Howell was equally effective, pitching 6.2 innings, allowing four hits and one earned to run to drop her record to 4-4 on the season.
 
BYU threatened early in the first inning, loading the bases with two outs, but would ultimately have all three runners stranded. BYU would threaten again in the seventh inning, but would ultimately be turned away by Arbino again.
 
The Aztecs would not have a base runner until the fourth inning, when sophomore Hayley Miles would double to lead off the inning. Corder would also have a double in the game.
 
As for Rose, this was not her first game-winning hit of her softball career, but definitely the most memorable for her.
 
“It was BYU, so it was much better,” Rose said.

 

 


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