March 30, 2014
BOX SCORES: San José State 14, UNLV 4 (5 inns.) | San José State 4, UNLV 2
SAN JOSE, Calif. (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV softball team dropped a pair of games on the road to the San José State Spartans Sunday in Mountain West play at SJSU Field. The first contest - a resumed affair that was postponed due to rain Saturday - and Sunday's finale were decided by two big innings by the host Spartans. SJSU, who improved to 19-14 overall and 2-1 in conference play, won the first 14-4 in five innings and the second 4-2. With the losses, UNLV fell to 14-20 on the year and 4-2 in the MW.
UNLV's offense was paced by a 4-for-6 (.667) day at the plate by Tayler Van Acker while Stefany Valentino had three hits, two of which were doubles.
Game One
With Saturday's game resumed in the fourth inning, UNLV already had a runner (Francesca Foti) on second before Emily Haslinger joined her on the bases with a walk. Unfortunately, Katelyn Linford (7-8) was able to induce a pair of fly outs to end any threat.
SJSU countered in its half of the frame by sending 19 batters to the plate with 13 runs scoring when its batters scattered 12 hits - all singles - and drew four walks.
The Rebels mounted a small rally with the help from three hits and a throwing error. Samantha Juarez led off with an infield single before Valentino duplicated the feat. Juarez moved to second with ease on Valentino's hit and then swiped third when no Spartan was in sight of the bag. Linford threw wildly towards third and the errant toss allowed Juarez to score. Pauline Monreal then brought Valentino home with a two-run home run to left field.
In all, the Spartans had six players have multiple-hit games with Michelle Cox and Nicole Schultz scattering three hits apiece. Cox, who scored a team-high three runs, tied Jessica Garcia and Sharon-Rena Estrada for the team lead in RBI with three each.
Linford picked up the win for SJSU despite allowing four runs off of nine hits in 4.1 innings of work. Allison Lang entered with one out in the fifth and was able to get the final two batters to ground out to end the game.
Morgan Ettinger (6-5) was tagged with the loss after she gave up nine runs off of 10 hits and four walks. Alex Petrolia surrendered the other five runs off of six hits and two walks in 0.2 innings.
Game Two
After seeing UNLV strand a pair of runners in the second inning, SJSU was able to capitalize on its opportunity when it got runners on base. The Spartans produced four runs in the bottom half of the stanza off a quartet of singles and two walks. A pair of errors factored into the scoring, as well.
The Rebels were able to cut into their deficit between the third and fourth innings with an RBI double by Valentino and a fielding miscue, respectively. Juarez came around to score on Valentino's hit after reaching on a fielder's choice in the third. An inning later, Jaexie Balilea scored the lone run after she earned a two-out walk, advanced to second off a single by Blando and then came home when SJSU's shortstop Alyssa Martinez misplayed a grounder.
Lang (7-4) and Madison Fish tag-teamed for the win and save, respectively, for the Spartans. Lang went 5.1 innings and gave up two runs (one earned) off of six hits and six walks. Fish struck out two and did not allow any hits or runs in 1.2 frames of relief.
Oliveto (7-11) took the loss for UNLV in six innings. She allowed four runs (three earned) off seven hits. She struck out one against three walks.
The Rebels remain out on the road with a three-game series in Boise, Idaho next weekend. UNLV and Boise State will get the conference set started on Friday, April 4 at 3:00 pm MT (2:00 pm PT) with Saturday's game at the same time while Sunday's is at 12:00 pm MT (11:00 am PT).
