Everything seems to be clicking for the San Diego State softball team.
SDSU is off to its best start in school history this season and currently holds a 15-8 record, good for second in the six-team Mountain West Conference.
In addition, sophomore pitcher Christina Ross leads the conference in ERA (1.20) while sophomore designated player Megan McDonald’s .484 on-base percentage is good for second in the conference.
Then again, everything seemed just right for the Aztecs last season around this time of the year, too.
SDSU started off strong at 22-12, but its young roster faltered in MWC action, struggling to a 5-18 conference record and eventually falling to New Mexico in the second round of the conference tournament.
So, when the Aztecs start league action against BYU at 4 p.m. tomorrow in Provo, Utah and then against Utah at noon on Saturday in Salt Lake City – with both games kicking off doubleheaders – a strong start will go a long way in putting 2005’s conference showing behind them.
“We’re coming out here and working hard because nobody wants to see that happen again,” McDonald said. “That gives us that little push to make us work harder, and make us work on the little things that we need to work on.”
This season’s MWC start brings about a unique challenge, however, in that SDSU starts off on the road against the preseason No. 1 Cougars (18-10) who received three votes in the latest ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top-25 poll.
A victory against BYU to start conference play would be a huge confidence lift, at least for McDonald.
“It’s really going to show us how good we are,” she said. “It can really boost our confidence and I think we can beat them.
“We’re good enough. It’s going to be pretty big – if we beat them then we will definitely be on a high because we’re going to try to carry that through the whole conference.”
Added freshman catcher Erin Floros: “Definitely if we beat (BYU), we can beat anyone. I think we can beat anyone already.”
Meanwhile, McDonald and Floros may be good to go in Provo as the altitude – all 4,553 feet – should lend a helping hand to the already-dominant Aztec hitters.
