San Diego State suffered a demoralizing loss in game one of the Mountain West tournament against Fresno State.
The Aztecs were a dismal 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position and committed three errors on Friday night, leading to a 3-0 loss at SDSU Softball Stadium.
It was the first time San Diego State had been shut out by a Mountain West opponent since a 1-0 loss to Utah State on March 17, 2024.
“You leave ten on base, you don’t deserve to win, quite frankly,” said head coach Stacey Nuveman Deniz. “We had our opportunities with runners in scoring position, and we just couldn’t push across anything.”
Fresno State starter and Mountain West Pitcher of the Year, Serayah Neiss, pitched a gem. She scattered nine hits over seven innings, walking two and striking out five.
Neiss constantly pitched around jams, creating weak contact with her cutter and collecting timely strikeouts with her riseball.
Aztec starter Grace Uribe cruised through her first two innings of work, but Fresno scratched off the game’s first run with an RBI sac-fly from Taryn Irigoyen in the top of the third.
The dagger came in the fourth inning when center fielder Julie Holcumb dropped a fly ball, leading to two runs scoring.
The Aztecs gave themselves plenty of chances to damage Neiss. They had a runner on with less than two outs in six innings but went 3-for-18 with runners on.
“There were a lot of wasted at-bats,” Nuveman Deniz said. “A lot of pop-ups and strikeouts. So we’ve got to make those adjustments and be better in those bigger moments. We were in a position to make things happen, we just didn’t do it.”
The lone bright spot was the pitching for the Aztecs. Uribe scattered six hits and allowed three runs (one earned) over 3.2 innings. Reliever Cece Cellura pitched 3.1 shutout innings, striking out two.
Softball will square off against Boise State in a must win game on Saturday. First pitch will be at 3 p.m. at SDSU Softball Stadium.
“If we show up and play our game and we play confidently, it doesn’t matter who is in the other dugout,” Nuveman Deniz said.
