The SDSU Softball program earned a split against the No. 12 Arizona Wildcats this weekend. 

San Diego State softball came into the two-game series with Arizona looking to add another ranked win to its resume.

The Aztecs did just that on Saturday with a 1-0 win over the 12th-ranked Arizona Wildcats.

The series’ first game was a 1-0 victory by the Arizona Wildcats, thanks to a solo home run by Devyn Netz in the top half of the 7th inning. The Aztecs responded with a 1-0 shutout victory of their own Saturday afternoon.

It did not look like either team was going to score in the first game with Cece Cellura and Devyn Netz pitching so dominantly. Both teams did not strike out much this series and played fantastic defense.

It seemed like the Aztecs were going to open the scoring in the first game when Grace Uribe hit one hard and far to right center. Center fielder Regan Shockey for the Wildcats made her way back and timed the jump perfectly to rob Uribe of a solo home run.

Cellura was on fire for the Aztecs in Game 1, hitting all her spots and throwing strikes. The defense behind her made timely plays and limited the errors. Quinn Waiki added a fantastic diving play to her defensive highlight reel to rob a potential extra base hit. Unfortunately for the Aztecs, they could not get anything going, with Julie Holcomb having two of the three Aztec hits in Game 1. Netz did her best Shohei Ohtani impression by pitching a complete game shutout and hitting a solo home run.

Saturday’s contest went almost exactly like its predecessor.

The losing team in both contests had three hits and no runs, while the winning team had one run on five hits. The only difference between the scores was the way the winning team scored.

The Aztecs scored in the bottom half of the fifth. Angie Yellen singled and was then pinch-run for by Mia Rodriguez. Bella Espinoza got on base, and that put runners on first and second. Holcomb came up to the plate and hit the ball hard at the first baseman. The Wildcats’ first basemen lost track of the ball, and the lightning-fast Rodriguez slid into home for the Aztecs’ lone deciding run of the game.

Grace Uribe started the game and had an amazing start in the pitching circle. Uribe went six innings, giving up only two hits with zero free passes. Similar to Cellura in the first game, Uribe trusted her defense and hit her spots. Uribe not only pitched well but also defended her position well, making a nice defensive play on a hard-hit ball up the middle.

After Uribe went six innings, Coach Stacey Nuveman-Deniz went to her other ace, Cellura. She came in and was ready to battle. Cellura gave up a single after getting the first out of the inning. She then induced a game-ending double play to add a massive resume-building win on the board for the Aztecs.

With the two-game split over 12th-ranked Arizona, the Aztecs move to 38th in RPI for College Softball.

The Aztecs will be in a good place as long as they win against San Jose State this upcoming weekend and sweep the three-game series.

Win or lose in the Mountain West Tournament, the Aztecs should be primed for an at-large bid to the NCAA Regionals.

Bryant Thursby

Assistant Coach at Heritage High School. A big time SDSU fanatic and Padres fan.