Shannon Mayo, Staff PhotographerThe San Diego State softball team must’ve been expecting at least a respectable showing in the Mountain West Conference portion of its schedule.
After all, the team got off to its best start in school history, ranked at the top of nearly every statistical category in the conference and either defeated or hung close to several ranked teams in preseason action.
But calling SDSU’s play merely respectable just doesn’t do justice to what the Aztecs have achieved.
SDSU (21-8 overall, 6-0 in MWC play) came from behind in both games of a doubleheader to sweep Colorado State (22-12, 3-3) on Sunday at the SDSU Softball Stadium, taking the first game, 3-1, before riding senior pitcher Celena Velasquez’s best game this season to a 4-1 victory.
The six MWC wins are already two more than the Aztecs managed last season, and they’ve already defeated possibly their best competition in the league – BYU and the Rams – en route to the impressive mark.
“I told the girls, ‘If you told me two weeks ago we’d be 6-0 in conference right now,’ I’d have said, ‘You were crazy, there’s no way,'” head coach Kathy Van Wyk said. “They’re playing great; they deserve these wins.
“I think right now we’re the best team in this conference.”
Van Wyk’s claim may be a bold statement, but Sunday’s games certainly didn’t give her a reason to believe otherwise.
The Aztecs held Colorado State – which owned a .319 batting average heading into the contests – to only one earned run in both contests (a solo home run by Julia Kloppe in the second inning of the second game).
Offensively, SDSU batted in five runs while recording 12 clutch hits against an experienced Ram pitching staff.
“I think we sent out a message,” said Velasquez, who was unavailable for Friday’s games against New Mexico and was questionable for the doubleheader against Colorado State after having an X-ray on Tuesday for an injured hip. “We’re here to play, San Diego State is back.
“It sounds clich
