Jarecki Flirts With No-Hitter as Rams Shut Out Aztecs

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Oct 19

1:00 PM

Softball

vs Northern Colorado

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Many athletes get into the habit of visualizing positives before competition.

Not that the practice always works, but it can help set the mindset on the right track for a game. Sunday, six Colorado State seniors wanted nothing more than to walk off Ram Field feeling good about the day, it being their final outing on their home field.

The storybook ending, so to speak, in a season where there haven't been a ton of positive storylines.

Jessica Jarecki knew she'd be in the circle, so she envisioned a strong start. Corina Gamboa was going to take her final hacks, so she pictured delivering a big hit. On top of that, her younger sister asked for a home run the day before and Gamboa delivered, so her younger sibling asked for another.

As if it is just so easy to do.

Maybe it is. Because Gamboa hit a bomb of a home run to left field, supplying all the runs the Rams needed against San Diego State as Jarecki flirted with a no-hitter through 19 outs, producing a 2-0 victory, pushing the Rams to 13-20 on the season, 7-11 in Mountain West play.

Jarecki made it all possible, producing one of her best starts of the season and the first complete game shutout by a Rams' hurler this season. She allowed just two hits in seven innings of work, no-hitting the Aztecs (27-14, 12-9) for 6.1 innings.

She had three 1-2-3 innings in the start, and had to weave out of trouble three times. Just like she pictured.

"Just being on my team, smiling on this field, enjoying every last moment back on this mound for the last time, so absolutely," Jarecki said. "(The no-hit bid) was such a tease, such a tease, but you know what? We got that shutout and that feels good."

The first SDSU threat came in the fourth with a lead-off walk, a runner who advanced to third. Jarecki produced a strikeout to end the threat. In the sixth, back-to-back errors opened the inning, but Jarecki put down the next three batters in order.

She notched the first out in the seventh then hit a batter before SDSU's Sara Lillie broke up the no-hit bid with a single up the middle, just past the diving attempt of second baseman Maya Matsubara.

"You know, she gave everything she had. That's' what this team does," Jarecki said. "It is what it is. I knew we were going to get out of it no matter what. We pick each other up, and she did everything she could."

After a strikeout, Aztec lead-off hitter Shelby Thompson hit a hard ball to the box, which deflected off of Jarecki's glove toward left field. Shortstop Haley Donaldson made a diving stop, preventing a run from scoring. With the bases loaded, Jillian Celis hit a hard liner out to left, one Tara Shadowen tracked down for the final out.

The final five minutes of the game seemed to last a lifetime, but there were great plays earlier which put her in position.

Senior Kailyn McVay made just her second appearance of the season and her first start, manning first base. In the third inning, she literally gave up her body for a foul pop, crashing into the fence and hanging on to the ball. Play stopped for five minutes while trainers and the coaching staff checked her out, but she remained in the game and delivered a hit in the fifth inning. Gamboa snared a hard liner at third, a mix of stellar glove work and self-preservation.

"Heart rate went up slightly, but I knew Tara was going to be there," Jarecki said. "Then it just went up from there. Donny keeps the run from going home, Corina catching that line drive was extraordinary. Those plays are everything to me. I feed off of them, and they feed off of me. We work as a unit. I love my defense, and they give me all the confidence I need."

All she needed was some runs, but those have been hard to come by this season. In two of the first three innings, the Rams had the lead-off hitter reach base, but neither time did they advance. In the fourth, Shadowen lined a single through the box, and with one out, Gamboa was swinging away.

She had homered in the seventh inning of Saturday's second game, an impressive shot to left field. This time, she crushed a no-doubter, right toward where her family was camped beyond the left-field fence, but way over their heads.

Circling the bases, it felt like one of the biggest home runs she's hit in her career.

"It does. I think one, it's senior weekend," she said. "Two, I was able to get the runs on the board and I was able to hit it to my family again. It was a big moment, and I'm so proud."

This was the type of win the Rams have been battling to get all year. They have a few, but as coach Jen Fisher noted, just not enough. It felt great – right, really – to see all six seniors on the field celebrating, each of them contributing something important to the effort.

"They all did. Every one of them," Fisher said. "It's such a great story for Kailyn McVey just holding on to that pop fly. She's been doing that. She's given of herself for four years, and you could just feel the energy in the dugout for her. It was a great team win, and a great way for them to go out.

"We've had some big wins, we just have to be more consistent. We can do that, and we've demonstrated that several times, but our win-loss record doesn't show that. We beat UNLV that same way. We've got to be more consistent, have to be able to attack more on offense to help our pitchers."

In all honesty, the home run was not what Gamboa visualized. She said she doesn't see herself hitting bombs in her mind. She keeps it simple with a smooth swing and solid contact. She's thinking of hits, and her only one was the biggest of the six the Rams collected against SDSU ace Maggie Balint, who had topped them in the opener.

The whole day was a heap of emotions for all of them, this being the last series at home. There is another three-game set on the road next weekend, but leaving a last mark on their turf was important.

For all of them, it was perfect.

"I'm just so happy. Emotional, of course," Gamboa said. "I can't even talk. There's just no words. This has been my home for five years, and I'm so blessed."

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