The Fresno State softball team had just grabbed its first-ever Mountain West Conference series sweep two weekends ago.
This weekend, the tides turned — the Bulldogs were trying to avoid getting swept in a Mountain West series for the first time.
It was not the ideal weekend for the Bulldogs, who lost to Colorado State 3-2 and 7-4 in Saturday’s doubleheader, but ended the series on a winning note.
Fresno State, behind freshman pitcher Jill Compton, shut out Colorado State 5-0 on Sunday on the road.
Compton took the circle and struck out nine Rams for her fourth complete game shutout and 12th win of the season.
“We had nothing to lose and wanted to leave it all on the field,” said Compton, who struck out 20 batters in her two appearances this weekend and lowered her ERA to 3.18.
“We came out ready to play,” she said. “Once we started getting runs on the board I started to feel more comfortable. The defense played really well behind me and Paige caught a good game.”
Colorado State outhit Fresno State 15-10 in the first two games of the series — which included a monster sixth inning in the second game for the Rams, who hit three home runs en route to a 7-4 win.
Sunday was a different story.
The Bulldogs outhit the Rams 12-2 in the third game, which, coupled with Compton’s outing in the circle, was enough to ignite a shutout.
Senior Diane Runge scored the first run for the Bulldogs on Sunday in the midst of Colorado State’s confusion after Michelle Solomon stole second base.
Stesha Brazil led the Bulldogs in hitting on Sunday, going 4-for-4 at the plate.
Fresno State improved to 26-20 overall and 7-5 in conference play and is tied with Nevada for third place in the Mountain West standings.
The Bulldogs have two Mountain West series left to play: one road series against San Diego State this weekend and another one at Bulldog Diamond on May 3-5 against New Mexico.
Mountain WestConference standings
T-1. San Diego State (28-16, 6-3 MWC)
T-1. Colorado State (20-20, 6-3 MWC)
T-3. Nevada (28-19, 7-5 MWC)
T-3. Fresno State (26-20, 7-5 MWC)
5. UNLV (18-25, 4-5 MWC)
6. Boise State (19-23-1, 3-6 MWC)
7. New Mexico (19-29, 3-9 MWC)
