USSSA Pride holds off Fresno State in softball exhibition

The Fresno State softball team nearly pulled off the upset against the USSSA Pride in an exhibition Wednesday at Margie Wright Diamond.

Up one run and just three outs from the win, the Bulldogs surrendered two in the top of the seventh and the Pride escaped 4-3 before a near-sellout announced crowd of 1,832.

The Pride’s Brigette Del Ponte help account for the tying and go-ahead runs in the seventh with a shot toward right field that sailed into foul territory. A Pride runner tagged up from third, but then a second run scored, too, on a throwing error on the play.

Selma’s Andrea Duran, the former Olympian who plays third base for the Pride, finished 1 for 3 with an infield single.

Fresno State newcomer Dominique Jackson earlier provided an RBI double that tied it 2-2. Then fellow newcomer Claire Stucker, a Bullard High graduate who spent last year at Mississippi State, put Fresno State ahead 3-2 with her single up the middle in the bottom of the sixth.

But the Pride would not be upstaged and finished 5-0 on a Fall Tour used to promote and increase awareness of professional softball.

This story was originally published October 22, 2015 at 1:15 AM with the headline "USSSA Pride holds off Fresno State in softball exhibition."