Aztecs Begin 2020 Season at Jacksonville Tournament

Aztecs Begin 2020 Season at Jacksonville's River City Leadoff Tourney
The San Diego State softball team kicks off its 2020 slate with five games over the weekend at Jacksonville University's River City Leadoff Tournament in Jacksonville, Fla.

The Aztecs open with Jacksonville at 5 p.m. ET (2 p.m. PT) Thursday. SDSU also plays Villanova (noon ET) and Nicholls (2:30 p.m. ET) on Friday, and again on Saturday (10 a.m. ET vs. Villanova and 12:30 p.m. ET vs. Nicholls).

San Diego State returns three all-Mountain West players from a year ago in shortstop Shelby Thompson (.336, 17 R, 19 RBI), first baseman Taylor Adams (.327, 4 HR, 18 R, 24 RBI) and pitcher Marissa Moreno (12-12, 3.01 ERA, 4 SV). Thompson made the all-MW first team for a third consecutive season (2017-19), while Adams and Moreno landed on the all-MW second team.

The Aztecs also welcome the fourth-best transfer recruiting class in the country, according to Softball America, in Maggie Balint (Oregon), Summer Hargett (Northwestern), Hannah Johnson (Cal State Fullerton), Sara Lillie (Oregon State), Alexa Schultz (Oklahoma) and Riley Thies (Towson).

SDSU has historically played well in season-opening games under 24th-year head coach Kathy Van Wyk. San Diego State has won six of its last seven season-opening games, 17 of 19 and 20 of the 23 lid-lifters in head coach Kathy Van Wyk's 23-year tenure. Since records were first kept in 1980, the Aztecs are 29-11 (.725) in their opening games.

SDSU has the most first-place votes (3) in the MW preseason poll and is picked to finish second. San Diego State, which has won a league-record seven MW regular-season titles, also received a vote in the preseason ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll.

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