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No. 3 Utah Wins MWC Softball Tournament With 5-4 Win Over No. 1 San Diego State Utah earns automatic bid to NCAA Tournament
May 13, 2006 LAS VEGAS - Final Boxscore in PDF Format
No. 3 seed Utah (38-19) won the 2006 Mountain West Conference Softball Tournament crown with a 5-4 victory over No. 1 seed San Diego State (32-13) on Saturday night, May 13 at Eller Media Stadium on the campus of UNLV. With the win, Utah earns the Mountain West's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The selection show will take place on Sunday, May 14 at 1:30 MT on ESPNews.
"It was unbelievable, we just never quit," said Utah Interim Head Coach Kyle Magnusson. "We were down 3-0 and you think against a team like San Diego State your chances are limited. And then we come up with our six and seven hitters hitting back-to-back homes, it was unbelievable."
Both teams were held scoreless until the bottom of the third inning when SDSU's Chrissie Markham hit a leadoff homerun to give the Aztecs a 1-0 advantage. The Utes attempted to tie the score with singles from Sharee Fonoti and Staci Hemingway, but both runners were left stranded on base.
The Aztecs struck again in the bottom of the fourth inning as Tamani Wells advanced to second base on a field error. She advanced to third base on a sacrifice bunt by Erin Floros and was driven home by a single from Megan McDonald. San Diego State ended the inning leading, 2-0.
Wells continued to be part of SDSU's scoring force as she recorded her 11th RBI of the season on a single to right field. Allison Smith, who advanced on a walk, rounded the bases to give the Aztecs a 3-0 lead at the bottom of the fifth inning.
Utah sprung their offense in the top of the sixth inning with back-to-back homeruns from Hemingway and Ivette Hernandez to give the Utes their first lead of the game, a 4-3 advantage. The homerun was Hernandez' second of the tournament, as she scored the game winner against BYU in game three of the tournament.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, SDSU's Monica Alnes extended her hitting streak to 15 games with a single to center field. Alnes advanced to second on a wild pitch and rounded the bases with a standup double from Taryin Casillas to tie the score at four apiece.
With two outs remaining and two runners on base in the top of the seventh, Utah's Devina Quintero smacked a line drive to right field, allowing Meghan Crouse to score and regain a 5-4 lead for the Utes. In the bottom of the inning, San Diego State had a chance to comeback as Meagan Hartung advanced to first base on a wild pitch but the Aztecs failed to advance her and ultimately fell to the Utes, 5-4.
"Obviously it's disappointing," said SDSU Head Coach Kathy Van Wyk. "We fought with everything we had all day and I'm extremely proud of them. Utah has a great club and I'm glad they get the chance to represent us in the regionals."
Tournament MVP Karina Cannon earned the win, moving her record to 20-7. San Diego State's Celena Velasquez falls to 9-4 on the season.
2006 MWC Softball All-Tournament Team |
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