MORAGA, Calif. — Saint Mary's Softball returns to the heart of Moraga from the Hawaii Paradise Classic to begin their first weekend at home. The Gaels host the Saint Mary's Tournament on February 17-19, with seven total games taking place at Cottrell Field. SMC will play Utah State twice, and then UC San Diego and San Jose State on Sunday.
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THE DETAILS
Saint Mary's Gaels (2-3) .vs Utah State / UC San Diego / San Jose State
Friday-Sunday, February 17-19
Cottrell Field – Moraga, Calif.
Live Stats and Streaming Information
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LAST TIME OUT
The Gaels were all the way across the Pacific Ocean last weekend, participating in the Hawaii Paradise Classic as they opened their season. Overall, Saint Mary's went 2-3, with the first day of competing not going as smoothly as planned, ultimately losing to Utah Tech 0-8 and Hawaii 3-5. But that didn't stand in the way of the headstrong Gaels, who won their second game against Utah Tech by a final of 6-3. After a lopsided loss against the Rainbow Wahine in game four, SMC came back and ended the tournament on a high-note, taking down Hawaii 5-1 in the tournament finale.
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TOURNAMENT AWARDS
Saint Mary's landed three on the All-Tournament team following play on Sunday.Â
Claudia Kirchner,Â
Hannah Ferguson, andÂ
Kailey O'Connor all received recognition for great starts to the season. Kirchner hit .357 with a home run and a team-best three RBIs in the opening weekend, while Ferguson was great in the leadoff spot, hitting .313 with a team-best four runs scored. O'Connor sports a 1.68 earned run average in three appearances and has both wins for SMC.
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ABOUT UTAH STATE
The Utah State Aggies will play the Gaels twice over the course of two days this upcoming weekend. It's been a while since the Aggies last won a Mountain West Conference Championship (1981), but they have an offense that can hang with some of the best in the country. They belted 44 home runs as a team last year, and while a lot of those home runs are gone from last year, they do have Gabriella Jimenez, who set the program record with 49 RBIs last season. The team has already shown some promise in their opening weekend, with first year pitcher Hailey McLean being named Mountain West Pitcher and Freshman of the Week last week. She set the Utah State record with a nine-inning, 20-strikeout performance in a 3-2 win over CSU Bakersfield.
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ABOUT UC SAN DIEGO
The Tritons, much like Utah State, finished exactly at .500 last year. They opened up the season 3-2 at the La Jolla Invitational, which the Gaels played in last year. They did so on the strength of their pitching, posting a 2.68 earned run average across 34 innings. If you take out Jada Cecil, the three remaining pitchers for the Tritons allowed just two earned runs in 24.2 innings. That comes as a surprise considering Cecil had a 1.64 ERA last year and was named to the Preseason All-Conference team. Deena Pederson had a big week offensively, hitting .483 with an .813 slugging percentage.
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ABOUT SAN JOSE STATE
The San Jose State Spartans will play the Gaels in their final game of this tournament on Sunday the nineteenth. The start of the season has been less than stellar for the Spartans, losing
every game of the Mark Campbell Invitational. The one thing to fall back on is that the Spartans faced some of the best teams in the country, playing four ranked teams, including preseason No. 1 Oklahoma. The Spartans were run-ruled in all five games and failed to score a run. SJSU was selected fifth in the preseason Mountain West poll, with two returning second team all-league players from last year: Alyssa Graham and Jenessa Ullegue.
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