Weekly sports recap

Women’s basketball finish their season as baseball, softball and tennis continue success 

Amara Brooks / Sports Editor / The USD Vista

Women’s Basketball

The women’s basketball team unfortunately concluded  their season after falling to Oregon  in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament this past Thursday, Mar. 23. The team finished in the tournament’s Super 16 round with a 61-81 final  score. USD redshirt senior Kiera Oakry set the tempo for the Toreros, scoring half of the team’s total points at the start of the first quarter and taking a 12-9 lead. Senior Kasey Neubert was also influential in the game with the most points scored in the game, securing another double-double. Neubert finished with 14 points and 13 rebounds. The Torero team finished strong and still held their own in the fourth quarter as they ended the game with a 6-0 run and won the quarter with 20-1 points scored. 

Senior guard Myah Pace finished her career with the Toreros at 14th place on the all-time scoring list with 1,144 points, third all-time with 247 steals, sixth all-time with 375 assists, eighth all-time with 299 free throws made and ninth all-time with 233 offensive rebounds. 

With five free throws in the game, Oakry finished her Torero career at 10th in all-time free throws list with 253 throws. Oakry’s 125 free throws this season are the fifth most in a single season in program history. The team had an historic end of a season. The Toreros will return to the court in the Fall. 

Baseball

From Mar. 17-19, the baseball team played in a three-game series against the University of the Pacific Tigers, with all three WCC games taking place at home at Fowler Park. The Toreros finished 2-1 against the Tigers. During the first game in the series, the Toreros scored in each of the first five innings, with home runs from juniors Kevin Sims and Angelo Peraza. 

The team had an impressive ten-run comeback in the eighth inning, securing a 16-9 victory over Pacific. The Tigers came out into the first inning, completing three runs; however, Sims answered with a solo home run to deep left-center field, marking his sixth homerun this season. By the bottom of the eighth the Toreros were down 8-6, but accomplished plating 10 runs on just one hit by taking advantage of errors from Pacific and bringing home every runner that reached base. Hoping to go for a clean sweep against the Tigers, the Toreros were defeated by Pacific 5-2. USD sophomore shortstop Justin DeCriscio had his first college career home run at the bottom of the third to help push the team into the lead. 

Softball 

The softball team hosted their past six games at home competing against South Dakota, Colgate and St. Thomas. On Friday, Mar. 17, the team took home a split after falling to South Dakota 2-1, but they won against Colgate 14-2. The softball program went into the two Friday games after a season high of runs scored in program history. The 14 runs against Colgate marked the most in a single game since 2017. On Mar. 22 the team ended a homestand with a doubleheader split against St. Thomas, winning game one 2-0 and falling in game two 4-3. USD first-year pitcher Emmie Giaime had a tremendous start, as she allowed no walks and only four hits over the course of six innings. Sophomore Joecellia Roberts set a career high with 21 RBIs this season. Sophomore Mikalyn Emmanuelli became the first Torero this season to extend her on-base streak in 10 consecutive games. 

On Friday, Mar. 31 the team will travel to Tucson, Arizona, to compete in the Bear Down Fiesta against Arizona University and Georgetown University. 

Men’s Tennis 

Men’s tennis competed in the Ed Collins Invitational the weekend of Mar. 17 and finished 2-1 after competing against Princeton, Memphis and Tulane. Friday’s game against Princeton came down to a third set at No. 3 where the team ultimately fell to Princeton with a final score of 4-3. On day two of the Classic, the team came back to defeat Memphis 4-1 after earning the doubles point with 6-3 wins at No.1 (Iiro Vasa/Sacchitt Sharrma) and No.2 (Marvin Schaber/Lambert Ruland).

USD First-year Lambert Ruland stepped up playing in both doubles and singles during the match and helped the team stay in the lead with a 6-3 and 7-5 win at No. 6 singles. The Toreros dominated in the final match of the classic, earning a 4-0 win against Tulane. The team won all six first sets in singles and managed a doubles point at No. 3, finishing with a 7-6 score. 

Women’s Tennis 

Women’s Tennis had an electric win after defeating LMU 5-2 on Thursday, Mar. 23. The match against LMU marks the first WCC match of the spring season. LMU took home the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 3, but the Toreos responded with five straight singles wins. The Toreros also dominated in singles match wins defeating both Oklahoma (4-1) and Gonzaga (7-0). 

USD sophomore Claudia De Las Heras earned the WCC Women’s Tennis Singles Player of the Week.