SAN DIEGO -- Riding the momentum of a season-long seven-game winning streak, San Diego State welcomes Boise State for a two-game weekend series at SDSU Softball Stadium. The Aztecs (22-13, 9-2 MW), who won the 2022 Mountain West regular-season title and last year captured the first MW tournament championship held since 2006, and the Broncos (24-15, 4-4 MW) will play at 4 p.m. PT Saturday and noon PT Sunday.
SDSU enters the two-game homestand in first place in the MW standings at 9-2, one game ahead of Nevada (8-3) and 1 ½ games ahead of UNLV (7-3). The top-6 teams in the regular-season standings through a 22-game conference schedule advance to the MW tournament, set for May 9-11 at Dana Larsen Park in Boise, Idaho. The winner of the MW tournament secures the league's automatic bid into the NCAA tournament.
San Diego State has won 13 of its last 15 games (13-2), including two come-from-behind victories at New Mexico on Wednesday (4-2 and 12-8). In 11 games in MW play this season, the Aztecs are outscoring the opposition, 58-27.
SDSU has played the 11th-toughest non-conference schedule this year, according to the latest NCAA RPI, released Thursday. San Diego State is ranked 31st overall in the metric with the 28th-toughest strength of schedule overall. Out of the Aztecs' 24 non-conference games this season, 17 have come against teams that made the 2023 NCAA tournament (SDSU is 7-10 in those games), including three against Women's College World Series programs, and nine have been against nationally ranked squads (San Diego State is 2-7).
Jade Ignacio leads the Aztecs with a .353 average (12-for-34) with most of her at-bats coming as a pinch-hitter (.318, 7-for-22). Mac Barbara (.337) has continued to provide pop with nine of SDSU's 13 home runs and 33 RBIs, while slugging .663 with a .479 on-base mark. Macey Keester (.310) is also hitting over .300 with 12 runs and seven stolen bases, while Lala Macario (.307) is leading the Aztecs in runs (28), hits (31) and stolen bases (14).
The SDSU pitching staff has continued to produce, combining for a 2.30 ERA and 132 strikeouts in 243 innings against just 38 walks, ranking 12th in the country in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.47) and 27th in ERA (2.30), which is backed by a defense that has the sixth-most double plays per game (0.60). Dee Dee Hernandez leads the staff with a 7-2 record, one save and 1.98 ERA in 46 innings, striking out 26 with eight walks, limiting the opposition to a .257 average. Cece Cellura has made the most of her first season of collegiate softball, going 6-2 with two saves and a 2.29 ERA in 79 1/3 innings. Cellura leads the country in walks allowed per seven innings (0.35) and is tied for first in fewest hit batters (1), while ranking eighth in strikeout-to-walk ratio (9.00). Defending MW Pitcher of the Year and the preseason pitcher of the year Allie Light is 8-7 with two saves and a 2.38 ERA in 88 1/3 innings, striking out 50 with 22 walks.
Both games will be broadcast on the Mountain West Network.
League-Leading Aztecs Welcome Boise State This Weekend
