Since 2010, the San Diego State softball team has annually traveled to Cathedral City, California, to take part in one of the most competitive west coast tournaments — the Mary Nutter Classic.
This week the Aztecs (8-5) faced No. 11 Missouri on Thursday and Nebraska and Bethune-Cookman on Friday. These three games came ahead of their showdown with No. 1 Oklahoma on Saturday.
Barbara’s three-run blast helps Aztecs top No. 11 Tigers 3-2
The Aztecs shouldn’t have still been batting in the bottom of the third inning, but after fouling off two straight 0-2 pitches, second base Micaela Macario reached on an error. Then left fielder Bella Espinoza legged out her only single of the game.
It set the table for first base Mac Barbara to work the count full, then launch her third home run of the season to give SDSU a 3-0 lead they would never relinquish against No. 11 Missouri.
Allie Light threw the first five innings, scattering four hits with a strikeout, a walk and three hit batters while allowing one unearned run. She escaped a one-out, runner on third jam in the top of the fifth by fanning one and inducing a line out to third base Katie Goldberg.
Dee Dee Hernandez closed the game out for the Scarlet and Black, giving up three hits — one was a solo home run — with a strikeout and a walk. The junior from La Crescenta, California, did not allow a Tiger runner in scoring position.
Garcia’s walk-off single sends SDSU over Nebraska, 3-2 in eight innings
The Aztecs walked it off in the bottom of the eighth with an RBI single by catcher Alyssa Garcia to bring home pinch runner Elianna Reyes from second for a 3-2, extra-innings win over the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
Light earned her second straight win, pitching the final four innings after CeCe Cellura conceded four hits and two runs (both earned) with a strikeout and a walk in four innings of work. Light notched five strikeouts to go with four hits allowed and stranded a pair of Huskers in scoring position.
SDSU had to play catch up twice, rallying from deficits of 1-0 and 2-1 with next inning responses.
SDSU got its first run in the bottom of the third when Macario and Barbara each singled and stole second. Center fielder Makena Brocki cracked a one-out single to left to score Macario and tie the game at 1-1, but Barbara was thrown out at home.
The Aztecs leveled again, 2-2, in the bottom of the fifth when Brocki scored on a wild pitch.
It was SDSU’s first extra-innings game since March 9, 2023, when they knocked off Long Beach State in the opening game of the Louisville Slugger Invitational. The Aztecs have played at least one extra innings game in each of their last four appearances at the Mary Nutter Classic.
Six-run first sets table for SDSU to run-rule Bethune-Cookman 9-0
Five different players drove in runs, led by three RBIs by Goldberg, as the Aztecs earned their first five inning, run-rule victory of the season.
Goldberg went 1 for 2 with a triple, while Macario had her first home run of the season and the duo of right fielder Angie Yellen and shortstop Kate Farren each had a pair of RBIs. First base AJ Murphy also added a double.
Cassidy West pitched all five innings for the Scarlet and Black to earn her first win of the season, allowing three hits while whiffing three Wildcat battlers.
