Kelly Calligan, Assistant Photo Editor

During Spring Break some San Diego State students probably took a relaxing vacation on a sun-soaked tropical beach.

The SDSU softball team’s situation was no different, with one exception – relaxation was far from the primary intent.

The Aztecs took their bats and gloves to Honolulu for the Bank of Hawaii Invitational tournament last week looking to not only enjoy the sights and sounds of Hawaii but to also continue a season in which they recorded the best start in school history.

However, through the first four games, SDSU (15-8) seemed to have caught spring fever and suffered a 1-3 record with its sole victory coming against Longwood University (11-15), 4-2, on Friday.

For head coach Kathy Van Wyk, the obvious factor of being far from home may not have played as much a role in SDSU’s performance as one would think.

“I don’t think it’s affected us in terms of our play,” Van Wyk said. “The only thing that’s different is the humidity, which is very heavy.

“I wouldn’t say it affected our play more so than it has anyone else that’s here.”

Like the idea that distance might have been an issue, the 1-3 mark through the first four contests is also somewhat deceiving.

The Aztecs dropped a pair of 1-0 nailbiters to start the action on Thursday – first to Oklahoma State (13-13) in extra innings and then to host Hawaii (14-12) – despite sophomore Christina Ross’ solid, complete-game pitching effort.

“The first games were frustrating because we gave up two runs and lost two games,” Van Wyk said. “Our pitching and defense were outstanding, but we couldn’t get key hits.”

However, getting the right hits at the right time wasn’t the issue against No. 16 Northwestern on Saturday.

SDSU hung in with the Wildcats (14-6) until a poor pitching performance in the seventh frame resulted in a 5-2 loss.

With the score knotted at two in the final inning, Ross allowed two hitters to reach base before being replaced in the circle by senior Celena Velasquez.

Velasquez didn’t fare much better, as she hit Kristen Amegin with the bases loaded to make the score 3-2.

Northwestern would finish up the scoring with a run coming in on a bases-loaded wild pitch and an RBI groundout by Jamie Dotson.

For Van Wyk, all was not lost in the game against the Wildcats.

“We were right in that game and felt we could’ve won,” Van Wyk said. “We had an ugly seventh inning, and it was unfortunate because it was such a good game.

“It was great to be close to a ranked team like that. We hung in there even if we didn’t play our best softball.”