Fresno State notebook: Villapando powers Bulldogs softball win
Jill Compton overcame a shaky first inning, and Alyssa Villapando delivered all the offense Fresno State would need as the Bulldogs’ softball team extended its undefeated run in the Mountain West Conference with a 3-2 victory over Utah State on Saturday at Margie Wright Diamond.
Compton (17-4) allowed two runs in the first inning – done in by a walk, a hit batter, a single and an error – before settling down to shut down the Aggies the rest of the way as No. 23 Fresno State (29-9-1 overall) moved to 11-0 in the Mountain West. The Bulldogs hold a three-game lead over second-place San Jose State with 13 conference games left.
Compton shut out Utah State (19-18, 5-6) on five hits over the final six innings. She had four strikeouts.
Villalpando made up for a first-inning error that accounted for one of the Aggies’ runs with a run-scoring groundout in the bottom of the first that scored Bria Kennedy, who led off by getting hit by a pitch.
Villalpando struck again in the bottom of the fifth, delivering a go-ahead, two-run double that scored Kennedy and Kierra Willis.
On Friday, senior catcher Paige Gumz delivered a walk-off single in the ninth to cap Fresno State’s wild rally from an early eight-run deficit, as the Bulldogs beat Utah State 12-11.
Freshman Kamalani Dung struck out 13 in seven innings in relief of Compton, who allowed nine runs (six earned) in two innings.
Dung finished with authority, fanning the final five batters she faced and posting the Mountain West high for strikeouts this season.
Golf – Trevor Clayton shot a 3-under 69, tied for the best round of the day, to move up from 49th place to a tie for 16th after the second day of the El Macero Classic.
Clayton is at 6-over 150 overall, eight strokes behind tournament leader Ryan Brooks of TCU.
Fresno State is tied for sixth as a team at 605. Texas Tech leads at 586.
Track and field – Junior Annemarie Schwanz broke one of her own school records again, this time clocking in at 4:17.03 while finishing third in the 1,500-meter run at the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa. Schwanz broke her 5,000 record with a 16:05.58 finish on April 1 at Stanford.
Lacrosse – Senior Anjelica Fuccillo will look to break the school’s all-time career points record when the Bulldogs visit UC Davis at 4 p.m. Tuesday. Fuccillo, in matching the mark of 95 set by Marcy Levatino from 2012-15, scored twice in the Bulldogs’ 18-6 loss to ninth-ranked Stanford on Friday, giving her nine goals to go with six assists on the season. Nicole Ortlieb leads the team with 29 goals.
Equestrian – Fresno State’s 12th-seeded riding team fell 14-2 to fifth-seeded Texas A&M in the opening round of the National Collegiate Equestrian Association Championships at Extraco Events Center in Waco, Texas. Sophomore Paige Pastorino scored the Bulldogs’ first point with a 133-129 victory in Equitation on the Flat. Junior All-American Taylor Brown scored Fresno State’s lone point in Horsemanship.
This story was originally published April 16, 2016 at 8:58 PM with the headline "Fresno State notebook: Villapando powers Bulldogs softball win."