Softball opens season with 1-4 weekend
The Aggie women’s softball team got off to a rough start to the season with a 1-4 record during its first weekend of action at the Stacy Winsberg Tournament in Los Angeles.
USU’s lone victory of the weekend came in a 6-4 win against North Dakota State on Saturday. The game included a milestone for shortstop Kelly Kaneshiro, who tied the Utah State home run record with her 24th career 4-bagger. The home run was the first score up on the board in the match against NDSU.
Freshmen Krista Bava and Brandy Karl helped bring the score to 2-0 before NDSU took a 3-2 lead in the third inning. Ashley Ventura was brought to second with a sac bunt by junior Tatem Day and then brought home by Bava, tying the score at 3-3 in the top of the fourth inning.
NDSU retook the lead by the start of the fifth but the Aggies blasted out another rally started by Kaneshiro who took third base on a error and was brought home by Ventura on a sac fly.
In the sixth inning, USU pulled ahead when Bava and freshman Kassy Uchida were brought home by a two-run double from senior Joreigh Landers. Sophomore pitcher Megan Harmon struck out five batters while only allowing eight hits giving her and the Aggies their first win of the season.
Later that night, USU fell to San Diego State University 10-1 with SDSU scoring its sixth run in the second inning on a home run. The Aggies would pinch-hit Ventura for Karl and Day brought her home for her first RBI of the season. The Aztecs would extend their lead with four more runs but only two earned by the end of the fourth inning.
The Aggies started off the tournament on Friday with a doubleheader going up against University of Central Florida, losing a close game 9-6 and finishing off the day against the No. 1 ranked and the defending Women’s College World Series Champion UCLA Bruins, losing 19-0.
USU was able to make runs tit-for-tat against UCF, who scored two runs in the first inning against Aggie sophomore starting pitcher Shelbi Tyteca. But the Aggies brought it back with a two-out rally in the top of the third inning when senior Shasta Tyteca walked and senior Kaneshiro nailed her 23rd home run straight over center field to tie the game.
Central Florida retook the lead in the bottom of the third, 3-2, but did not hold it very long when sophomore Tina Fergason and Bava scored in the fourth to take the lead 4-3. Bava, making her collegiate debut, batted 3-for-3.
The Aggies would take a commanding lead in the fifth as Ventura plated both Shasta Tyteca and Megan Mcdonald to make the score 6-3. But in both the bottom of the fifth and sixth innings CFU scored three runs in each with a home run scoring three in the fifth and three more scored in the sixth. Megan Harmon took the loss giving the Aggies their season’s first defeat.
The night cap on Friday was the game versus No.1 UCLA, who took an early four-run lead and then pushed the lead to eight with two home runs in the third inning. UCLA pitcher Donna Kerr pitched her second no-hitter while they scored six more runs in the fourth and five more in the fifth.Harmon took the 19-0 loss, leaving the Aggies 0-2 after their first day at the tournament.
The Aggies will have a week to prepare until they’re off to Las Vegas for the University of Nevada-Las Vegas Louisville Slugger Tournament, starting Friday where they will play their first match against Stanford.
– mfiggat@gmail.com