Weekly Recap
Softball, baseball win at home for first time this season
MARI OLSON / SPORTS EDITOR / THE USD VISTA
As sports begin to pick up the pace at the University of San Diego with the spring season underway, find out how USD athletes and sports are faring both in San Diego and on the road. Last weekend, baseball and softball opened their seasons at home, both basketball teams began to wind down their regular seasons, and women’s tennis played three matches in quick succession.
Women’s tennis
The University of San Diego Women’s Tennis team recorded their third clean sweep in a row with a 7-0 win over the University of Hawaii at the Skip and Cindy Hogan Tennis Center on Tuesday, Feb. 15.
Redshirt junior Solymar Colling and redshirt sophomore Elizabeth Goldsmith won the first doubles match 6-1, with the other two doubles pairs beating their Rainbow Warrior opponents as well.
The Toreros won all six singles matches as well, with sophomores Abigail Desiatnikov and Jordyn McBride, junior Victoria Kalaitzis, and first-year Claudia De Las Heras all winning their matches in two sets.
USD traveled to Santa Barbara to play Washington State University on Saturday, Feb. 19, and the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) on Sunday, Feb. 20. The Toreros continued their winning streak against WSU, beating the Cougars 4-1.
Unfortunately the Toreros could not end the weekend with a win, falling to UCSB 2-5. De Las Heras and Kalaitzis won their singles matches, but the Gauchos proved to be too much to handle for the USD team.
Softball
After winning three games last weekend at the Easton Classic in Fullerton, CA, Torero softball headed back to San Diego. They started off last week with a game away at the cross-city rival San Diego State University on Wednesday, Feb. 16.
USD was unable to overcome the Aztecs’ powerhouse team, with a final score of 1-3 in favor of the team to the east.
All of the runs were scored in the fourth inning. The Toreros went ahead first with redshirt junior outfielder Alexia Torculas making it to home base off a double hit by redshirt senior utility player Noelle Hee.
However, in the bottom of the inning, SDSU put three players in scoring positions and converted all three into runs, putting the Aztecs up 1-3 by the end of the inning.
Neither team was able to create any more scoring opportunities, and the game finished in seven innings with the Aztecs ahead.
USD Softball also hosted the Torero Classic tournament over the weekend at the Softball Complex. The team posted their first home win of the season on Friday, Feb. 18 against DePaul University, with a dominant 9-5 scoreline.
The team continued their momentum on Saturday evening, making a huge comeback to defeat South Dakota State, 6-5, in eight innings.
After going down 4-1 at the end of the fourth inning, the Toreros rallied in the bottom of the seventh, making a few key plays and taking advantage of a fielding error by the Jackrabbits to tie the game at four at the end of seven innings.
In extra innings, the Toreros scored twice and the Jackrabbits scored once to give USD the 6-5 win, their second of the tournament.
USD Softball couldn’t find their groove in the first game on Sunday, going down 1-8 to Oregon State University. However, they were able to find their mojo again in the second Sunday game, defeating the University of California, Riverside 5-2 in the final match of the Torero Classic.
USD Softball plays this weekend in the Mary Nutter Classic in Palm Springs, CA. The Toreros will play five games in three days during the tournament.
Men’s basketball
In their final road game of the 2021-2022 regular season, the Torero men’s basketball team took on the University of Portland on Thursday, Feb. 17, falling to the Pilots 60-92.
USD only shot 39 percent from the field, unable to match Portland’s 63 percent from the field and 58 percent from the three-point line.
Senior guard Jase Townsend led the Toreros with 16 points and junior forward Yavuz Gultekin wasn’t far behind with 15 points, but their combined efforts weren’t enough to propel USD to a win.
The Toreros are 7-7 in the West Coast Conference (WCC) with two regular season games left to play before the WCC tournament begins on Mar. 3. USD will take on Saint Mary’s on Thursday, Feb. 24, and the University of San Francisco on Saturday, Feb. 26, at the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
Women’s basketball
The USD Women’s Basketball season is beginning to wind down toward the postseason as well, but there are still important contests to be played before then. The Toreros posted a win over the University of the Pacific on Thursday, Feb. 17.
The Toreros worked hard for the 87-80 scoreline over the Tigers, shooting just 41 percent from the field and 19 percent from the three-point line.
Senior guard Steph Gorman set a new career high, scoring 23 points to lead the Toreros to victory.
Graduate guard Sydney Hunter backed her up with 17 points and 11 rebounds, and redshirt junior Kiera Oakry added 14 points of her own to push USD over the edge.
The Toreros traveled to the Bay Area on Saturday, Feb. 19, to take on Saint Mary’s University (SMU). However, the team couldn’t find a way to beat the Gaels, and fell 67-79.
Graduate student Jordyn Edwards put up 16 points in the effort to beat SMU, and Hunter recorded another 10 rebounds.
Women’s basketball will look to bounce back against the University of Portland on Thursday, Feb. 24 in their final road game of the season.
Baseball
USD Baseball started their season off with a bang, emphatically putting the University of Oregon away on opening night with an 11-1 win.
The Toreros started off strong with a two-run home run in the first inning, and continued to pile on the runs, including scoring seven in the seventh inning.
Senior starting pitcher Garrett Rennie held down the fort for USD on Friday night, as he started his first game in two years coming off a season-ending injury last year.
Rennie and the defense, with the help of the relief pitchers, held the Ducks to only one run all night.
On Saturday evening, the Toreros posted another seven-run inning, this time in the third. USD went up 9-0 by the top of the fourth.
Sophomore starting pitcher Brycen Mautz set a career-high 12 strikeouts, and reliever Jack Hyde put in the work to keep the Ducks at bay during the game, but Oregon still found a way to put up four runs during the game.
A final insurance run in the sixth inning for the Toreros put the scoreline at 10-4.
USD clinched the series win on Sunday, narrowly beating the Ducks 5-4. The Toreros went down 0-1 early in the first inning, but rallied in the third and fourth to make the scoreline 4-1.
Two solo home runs by the Oregon offense and an RBI double tied the game at 4-4 in the eighth inning. But USD was able to take advantage of a breakdown of the Oregon pitching staff, who walked in the winning run for the Toreros in the bottom of the eighth.
Sophomore pitcher Ivran Romero ensured the Torero win in the top of the ninth.
The Toreros couldn’t find one last push to sweep the Ducks, losing 11-21 in the final game of the series on Monday, Feb. 21.
USD Baseball will play in the Tony Gwynn Classic against the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and Fresno State University beginning on Friday, Feb. 25 at Fowler Park.