SDSU Anxious To Shine

The North County Times Feature Story

Softball Home HEADLINES New Mexico's Gayle Tripp, UNLV's Brittany Meade Nominees for 2009 NCAA Woman of the Year Award New Mexico's Gayle Tripp, UNLV's Brittany Meade Nominees for 2009 NCAA Woman of the Year Award Mountain West Conference Softball Press Release - 2009 Wrap-Up RELATED LINKS • Follow all of the college softball action at CollegeSports.com • Email this to a friend

May 8, 2003

By Mike Sullivan
North County Times

SAN DIEGO - Twelve months have passed since San Diego State was upset in the Mountain West Conference softball championship, a loss made even more painful the following day when the Aztecs were bypassed by the NCAA tournament selection committee.

That unpleasant memory is very much on the minds of the Aztecs as they open play in this year's MWC tournament today at SDSU Field.

"I don't have to remind them," coach Kathy Van Wyk said. "It's a motivating factor. It's not something I have to remind them of, definitely. They remember it very well and it was a big deal last year because we had five seniors who walked away feeling they got cheated."

The Aztecs (36-17) are the favorites of the six-team field. They open play at 4:30 p.m. today against the winner of an earlier game between Utah and New Mexico.

SDSU features the conference's top pitching staff ---- the Aztecs rank first in the league in earned-run average (1.53) and strikeouts (318) ---- and four players who batted over .300, including Rancho Bernardo High alumna Janna Kovensky.

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