Ag softball falls to Utes in SLC
With last weekend’s series with Long Beach State being postponed due to inclement weather, the Utah State softball team took the field for the first time in over a week Wednesday afternoon in Salt Lake City.
Despite coming up with eight hits on the day, the Aggies fell 6-2 to the University of Utah.
Following last week’s losses to Brigham Young, during which BYU jumped to early leads in both games, coach Debbie Bilbao expressed her desire to be a better “starting team.”
Against the Utes, the Aggies managed to get off to an early lead, but faltered later on.
“We were a much better team,” Coach Debbie Bilbao said. “We really battled.”
In the top of the first inning, freshman second baseman Quela Henderson (.303 batting average) doubled to left field. An Amanda Carlson (.258, 10 RBIs) single to right scored Henderson and gave the Aggies an early lead.
Henderson was 2-of-3 on the day, including two doubles, a walk and a pair of runs scored.
“Quela is a tremendous athlete. She’s a big part of the future of this program,” Bilbao said. “She’s hitting the ball extremely well and making a lot of great plays.”
Defensively, the Aggies held the Utes scoreless for three full innings thanks largely to the pitching of freshman Leslie Higley. Higley (4-11) held the Utes to just one hit and accrued four of her personal best six strikeouts in the game’s first three innings.
In the top of the fourth inning, Henderson scored on a Stephanie Vasarhely single to left center, giving USU its second and final run of the game.
Down 2-0, the Utes rallied. Behind a barrage of singles, the Utes scored three runs on four hits and one error in the bottom of the fourth inning.
The Utes’ momentum continued through the fifth inning, during which they added three more runs to the scoreboard.
“We had some key errors with two outs that really cost us the game,” Bilbao said. “We were in the right position to make the plays, we just needed to execute better.”
Utah State had opportunities to rally late in the game, but in the end could not overcome four errors and the nine runners it left on base.
“We did a great job of loading the bases,” Bilbao said. “I would like to see us do a better job scoring, though.”
USU fell to 5-23 on the year, while Utah improved to 12-27. The Aggies head to California this weekend for a three-game series with Cal State Northridge.
-acfalk@cc.usu.edu