Smith surges senior stars to stupendous win

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10:30 AM

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at Sacramento State

By: Evan Liu

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Colorado State is getting used to walking off the field with a win moments after it unfolds.

For the third day in a row, the Rams were on the good side of a walk-off. This time, in nine innings, they would overcome a Fresno State comeback with a 5-4 win thanks to a Hailey Smith double to drive in Ashley York from first base.

"Last at-bat, they were attacking early and they were getting tired," Smith said. "I was trying to capitalize on it, and do something simple. Anything can happen. Something had to drop, and it just happened to be mine."

Smith's double to win the game was the only extra base-hit of the game for the Rams who had done all their previous damage in the first four innings on just walks, singles, and wild pitches.

It was a toned-down offensive performance compared to the previous two games this weekend at Ram Field. While less runs came across the plate in Sunday's win, the way they happened and worked out didn't seem to bother anyone in the dugout.

"I felt like we hit some balls hard," head coach Jen Fisher said. "I thought Brooke Bohlender missed a couple, Kaitlyn Cook missed a couple, their shortstop made a couple great plays. Earlier in the weekend, we put more pressure on them and they made mistakes. That's how we got back in the game today."

While offense wasn't the prowess of the day as it had been all weekend, senior starting pitcher Jetta Nannen was. Nannen started her final game at home as a Ram on her senior day with all the celebrations pre-game.

She lived up to expectations, throwing an exceptional game. In 6.2 innings, she only gave up five hits, two runs, and struck out two batters in a 101-pitch performance.

"I just went out there and played it like a normal game," Nannen said. "I played with my teammates, embraced every moment, and soaked it all in."

"[Jetta] is so good, and ever since she came to this team, I just knew the potential she had," Smith said. "Boy, does she show it every time she's on the mound. She has unreal break, it's crazy."

Nannen was pulled with two outs in the seventh inning and just missed out on completing the game for the first time this season. A roaring ovation from the crowd rained down on her as she embraced her teammates one final time in the circle and jogged off the field.

But Danielle Serna who came in to finish the game gave up two runs, including a game-tying two-run home run over the right field fence from Keahilele Mattson to silence the crowd and put life into the Fresno State dugout. It was a shock to many as to why Nannen wasn't kept in to finish the game.

"We were just looking to mix it up, we were going off of matchups," Fisher said. "We wanted Jetta to go the whole game but scouting what we were reading, Nelly was the right matchup for the next batter. It didn't end up working out the way it wanted, but the team rallied, and the team had Nelly's back."

Rally they did as Giselle Bentley entered in relief for the second day in a row and shut down the Bulldogs offense yet again in the extra two innings to get the win. She only gave up one hit and struck out another batter as well.

While the moment for Nannen may have been ruined as she had to watch the team rally from the dugout, it didn't hamper the mood. It's just the way she's been in her two years at CSU.

"I was confident in my teammates," Nannen said. "We always work on having each other's backs, and that's what we did today and we proved it over and over again."

"She's been steady all year, and she's got a good mentality," Fisher said. "I think she really showed that today and it's what we needed today. In those moments, that maturity, do a job, do what coach asked me do, she's very coachable."

All of the seniors had their moment pregame, with the celebrations of the previously mentioned Nannen along with Kaitlyn Cook and Makenna McVay. But, the job for the Rams is far from done.

They end their first season at the newly renovated Ram Field with a 7-4 record. Colorado State, now 26-17 overall and 10-8 in the conference, looks to be in prime position to get a good seed in the Mountain West Tournament in San Diego in a few weeks.

But first, a final road series with the Nevada Wolf Pack remains next weekend. They're hungry for a spot in the bottom part of the conference to make the tournament, and look to upset the Rams along the way. Colorado State has its head held high heading into the final weekend with all the momentum.

"I like the way we're evolving as a team, and it gives our team a lot of confidence," Fisher said. "We'll pass the bat, run the bases hard, and do those things to give us confidence to a similar team to us."

"We just take it one step at a time," Smith said. "Everything we doing, working our butts off, making those plays, we're a team that loves momentum and we will take it with us."

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