Eva Sahatdjian homered in SDSU’s 3-2 win over Fresno State in the NCAA Los Angeles Regional on Friday.
Edison High graduate Eva Sahatdjian hit a two-run home run today to highlight San Diego State’s three-run sixth inning and the Aztecs went on to beat Fresno State 3-2 in the opener of the UCLA Regional in the NCAA Tournament.
San Diego State (34-14) will play the winner of Game 2, taking place Friday evening at 5:30pm PST, between No. 5 seed UCLA (40-11) and Saint Mary’s (30-21).
Fresno State (39-20) will play the loser of tonight’s UCLA-Saint Mary’s game in an elimination game at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Michelle Moses, the losing pitcher for Fresno smacked a two-run homer in the top of the seventh for the Bulldogs to make it close. The Bulldogs hurt themselves by leaving nine runners stranded. They only had five hits to San Diego State’s eight.
Junior Eva Sahatdjian (Fresno, Calif.) had a two-run homer and sophomore Ashley Rose (Antioch, Calif.) had an RBI single in a three-run sixth inning to give the San Diego State softball team a 3-2 victory over Fresno State Friday in the first game of the NCAA Los Angeles Regional. The Aztecs (34-14) will face No. 5 overall seed UCLA at 1 p.m. PT Saturday. SDSU won its opening game in an NCAA Regional for the first time since 2001.
San Diego State started the game out 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position until a string of baserunners led to three runs in the bottom of the sixth. Junior Jessica Camello (Temecula, Calif.) led off the inning with a double down the left field line, but stayed at second base after a pair of hard lineouts by senior Brittany Knudsen (San Diego/Escondido HS) and sophomore Justeen Maeva (San Diego/Mira Mesa HS/Cal State Bakersfield). Sahatdjian then took a 1-2 pitch well over the center field fence to put the Aztecs up, 2-0. It was Sahatdjian’s fourth home run of the season as she improved to 10-for-29 (.345) with two outs. Sixteen of her 21 RBIs have come with two outs.
Redshirt senior Monica Alnes (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.) kept the inning alive when she was hit by a pitch and freshman Patrice Jackson (Kansas City, Mo.) followed with a single. Rose singled through the left side to score Alnes with the eventual game-winning run.
The Bulldogs (39-20) answered in the seventh when Michelle Moses connected on a two-run homer with one out. SDSU junior pitcher Samantha Beasley (San Diego/Steele Canyon HS), however, got Courtney Moore to fly out to right field and Caitlin Stiglich to line out to shortstop, giving San Diego State its eighth career NCAA tournament victory (8-10).
Camello and Jackson had two hits apiece for the Aztecs, who improved to 31-1 this season when outhitting their opponent and 27-0 when leading after six innings. Knudsen and Maeva also singled for SDSU.
Beasley (29-9) battled through seven innings, scattering two runs on five hits, four walks and a hit batter. She struck out six, while stranding nine Fresno State runners, including at least one in five of the seven innings.
Moses (11-2) took the loss for the Bulldogs after allowing three runs on eight hits. She matched Beasley with six strikeouts.