It's probably safe to say nobody outside San Diego thought the Aztecs men's basketball team would play in the national championship game. It's also probably safe to say nobody outside San Diego thinks the Aztecs softball team will play in the Women's College World Series.
Y'all might be in for another big surprise.
SDSU beat Grand Canyon University 6-0 on Saturday afternoon in the Los Angeles regional, putting them just one win away from the program's first trip to a super regional. The Aztecs have been riding their suddenly dominant pitching staff. Against GCU, Sarah Lehman tossed 4.0 innings of no-hit ball with six strikeouts. Dee Dee Hernandez followed with 2.0 shutout innings (she allowed the first hit of the game, a clean single in the 6th inning) and Allie Light closed it with a perfect 7th inning.
Those three are in some kind of collective zone.
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In their 7-0 shutout of Liberty to open the NCAA Tournament it was Light who went 4.0 innings, followed by Hernandez for 2.0 and Lehman handling the final frame. Going back to the Mountain West Conference Tournament that trio has tossed 26.0 consecutive shutout innings and they've gotten plenty of support from the offense.
On Saturday, Makena Brocki drove in two runs with an RBI single and a solo home run. The bomb was her 1st of the season after going 51 games without leaving the yard. Cali Decker also drove in a pair with a single and an RBI groundout. Over the last four games the Aztecs have outscored their opponents 28-0.
That's not too shabby.
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SDSU advances to the regional final and they are in a great position to advance. National powerhouse UCLA, the regional hosts and the #2 national seed, lost to Liberty on Saturday and are out of the tournament. On Sunday the Aztecs will have two chances to beat either Liberty or Grand Canyon (they play on Saturday night in an elimination game). If they pull that off they'll have a best-of-three series against the winner of the Salt Lake City Regional.
Win that, and they earn one of eight spots in the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City.
