Despite hosting the 2025 Mountain West Tournament, the San Diego State home faithful was not the loudest crowd Thursday night. The Fresno State Bulldogs rolled deep, and their fans put SDSU Softball Stadium on notice.
Fresno State’s softball team conquered the hosting Aztecs 3-0 on the back of a complete game shutout from Bulldogs starter Serayah Neiss. Her five strikeouts and only two walks were enough for Fresno State to remain undefeated in the tournament and advance to Friday’s semifinal against top-seeded Nevada.
From afar, Neiss’ performance might seem like a dominant one, but SDSU had no problem getting people on base. In fact, they mustered nine base knocks throughout the game.
Contrary to most of the Aztecs’ home conference games, they pounded the ball all over the yard; there were many opportunities to score runs.
“We had our chances, we had our opportunities,” said head coach Stacey Nuveman Deniz after the loss. “We got ourselves in [good positions] to score, we just could not push across [runs].”
Seemingly, when SDSU was able to put ducks on the pond, they were not mentally in their at-bats. While Neiss did execute numerous two-strike pitches, the Aztec hitters helped her along the way.
The only time the Aztecs were threatening to crack the goose egg was early in the game. In the home half of the second inning, junior power threat Shannon Cunningham blooped a single into the outfield. Freshman Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year rounded third and was gunned down at the plate.
A questionable decision to send the runner to the plate on such a softly-hit ball proved costly for SDSU, as their offense did not pose much of a threat thereafter. In total, the Scarlet and Black left 10 runners on base, matching their second-highest total on the season and tying their season-high for runners left on base in a loss.
“There were a lot of wasted at-bats,” mentioned Nuveman Deniz, unsatisfied with her team’s performance. “A lot of pop-ups and strikeouts. We have to make those adjustments and be better in those bigger moments and make things happen.”
Uncharacteristic occurrences seemed to be the theme for the Aztecs, as their defense also had a subpar performance. SDSU’s gloves accounted for three errors, including a dropped routine fly ball in right field in the top of the fourth inning. The drop proved costly as Fresno State added two runs on the play, increasing their lead from 1-0 to 3-0.
Mental errors, like letting the pressure infiltrate the hitters’ minds, were ever-present on Thursday night. Coach Nuveman Deniz emphatically shared her take on her offense’s approach.
“It’s a mental approach thing,” stated the Aztecs’ skipper. “You have to go back to all of the reps and all of the moments you have clutched up and gotten it done and let those be where your focus is.”
Three runs and the crushing two-run error were too much for SDSU to overcome in their opening Mountain West Tournament game. As Coach Nuveman Deniz said, some hitters’ minds faltered, ultimately costing her team in the end.
Compounding a less-than-average defensive output with untimely hitting is not a recipe for success and definitely not the order of business in the conference championship.
The Aztecs are no strangers to postseason success and bouncebacks, but they do have a tall task ahead of them if they want to raise their fourth straight Mountain West Championship trophy.
