Weekly Recap
Softball and baseball find ways to win; women’s tennis gets tough
MARI OLSON / SPORTS EDITOR / THE USD VISTA
With only a few weeks left until the spring season begins to wind down, University of San Diego athletes are starting to feel the heat. Softball, baseball, and women’s tennis all took part in key West Coast Conference (WCC) contests last weekend, while men’s rowing took on next door neighbors University of California, San Diego (UCSD).
Softball
USD Softball picked up their WCC schedule again last weekend, taking on the University of the Pacific (Pacific) on the road on Friday and Saturday.
The Toreros beat the Tigers in the first game on Friday, April 15, coming out on top 6-3.
USD took an early lead in the second inning after an error by Pacific allowed two runs to score on an RBI single by redshirt junior utility player Izzy Owen.
Redshirt sophomore Courtney Rose started the game on the mound, throwing four scoreless innings. Rose struck out four batters and walked two.
After three innings with no scoring from either team, the Toreros picked up the attack again in the sixth. Four runs, including a two-run home run by redshirt junior Alexia Torculas, put USD up 6-0.
Pacific tried to answer in the seventh, plating three runs of their own, but they weren’t able to make the full comeback, and the Toreros ended the game on top.
USD also reigned victorious against Pacific on Saturday, April 16. The Toreros went up in the third and fourth innings 3-0 and never looked back, even as the Tigers attempted a comeback in the sixth. The final score was 3-2.
Sophomore pitcher McKenna Braegelmann played five dominant innings for the Toreros and earned the win, her third of the season.
Redshirt junior AJ Kaiser notched her first home run of the season, driving in two runs in the fourth, and redshirt senior Noelle Hee registered her 23rd RBI in the third to push the Toreros to the win.
Next up for the Toreros is another WCC series against Brigham Young University at home on April 22 and 23.
Women’s Tennis
No. 42 USD Women’s Tennis traveled to Los Angeles on Saturday, April 16, to take on no. 27 Loyola Marymount University (LMU) in conference play. The Toreros dropped the match, 1-5.
LMU took the doubles point to start the match as the USD teams on courts one and three went down 6-2 and 6-1, respectively.
In singles play, sophomore Jordyn McBride registered the Torero’s lone point of the afternoon, taking down her LMU opponent 6-4, 6-1.
USD couldn’t overcome LMU’s firepower, however, and the other singles matches finished in favor of the Lions. The Toreros’ conference record now sits at 4-1.
USD has one final WCC matchup against Pepperdine University in Malibu on Saturday, April 23, before conference championships.
Men’s Rowing
USD Men’s Rowing took on Temple University and UCSD on Friday, April 15, on Mission Bay.
The teams each raced a first varsity 8+ and a second varsity 8+ over the 2,000 meter distance. The races were live streamed by head coach Bart Thompson on the men’s rowing Instagram page.
Conditions were good on the Bay, with mostly flat water and only a slight wind for the crews to adjust to.
Temple’s first eight finished just ahead of UCSD, with a time of 5:57.09. UCSD was second in 5:57.89, and USD’s top boat came third in 6:03.35.
The placement was the same for the second eights’ race, with Temple in first, UCSD in second, and USD in third. USD was just over two seconds behind UCSD with a time of 6:25.56.
Men’s rowing will continue their season at the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association championships (WIRA) on April 30 in Sacramento, CA.
Baseball
USD Baseball began the week on April 12 in a headliner match up against crosstown rivals San Diego State University Aztecs.
The Toreros took an early 2-0 lead in the first inning, but fell behind 2-3 in the third. The USD pitching staff found their groove, however, and held the Aztecs scoreless for the rest of the game.
USD, meanwhile, found the plate six more times, scoring in the fifth, sixth, and eighth innings to put the game well out of SDSU’s reach, winning 8-3.
Last weekend, the Toreros took on LMU in WCC play.
Thursday night’s contest was a drawn out affair. LMU got out to a very early 6-1 lead, after scoring five in the third inning.
The Toreros fought their way back on offense, after a six-run fourth inning tied the game at 7-7. One final run scored by the Lions in the fifth put the game at 7-8, and USD looked like they were struggling in offense until graduate student RJ Teijeiro put up an RBI single in the bottom of the ninth to send the game to extra innings.
Dominant relief pitching in the form of graduate student Ian Churchill sent the game to the 13th inning, after which Fowler Park’s 10:30 p.m. curfew suspended the game at 8-8.
It took USD only one frame to pick up the win the next day, when a walk off RBI single from sophomore Dustin Allen gave the Toreros the final 9-8 lead.
Friday’s game couldn’t have been more different. Both teams played excellent defense, and saw unprecedented pitching performances from their starters. Sophomore Brycen Mautz, on the mound for the Toreros, threw a complete game, the first of his collegiate career and a season high for USD. Eight scoreless frames for both teams seemed like they might send the game to extra innings again, but the Toreros found a way through in the bottom of the ninth. A clutch double from junior catcher Caleb Ricketts put a runner in scoring position for USD with two outs left in the game.
Sophomore Angelo Peraza stepped up to the plate and turned in an RBI single to score Ricketts, giving USD their second walk off win in a row, this time 1-0.
In the final game against LMU on Saturday, April 16, the Toreros couldn’t find the Fowler magic to sweep the Lions and went down 1-8.
Although Ricketts started the first inning with another clutch double and sophomore Kevin Sim was able to plate him for an early 1-0 lead, USD couldn’t hold on in defense.
LMU tied it up in the next inning and then held onto a 2-1 lead for seven innings.
The final nail in the coffin for the Toreros was a ninth inning grand slam by LMU that put the game at 1-8, firmly out of USD’s reach.
With the series win, San Diego moves into second in the WCC with a record of 9-6. USD will travel to Utah to take on Brigham Young University, April 21 through 23.