Ag softball swept by UVSC
USU softball suffered back-to-back losses on Tuesday against the Wolverines of Utah Valley State College in Orem.
Game one began with inning one ending quickly. Junior third base player and USU Athlete of the Week, Amy Schaible, offered up the first and only hit of the inning. The Wolverines answered back with their own version of the lone hit with a bunt by senior outfielder Cari Hamilton.
“We made some mistakes, and they cost us,” Head Coach Candi Letts said. “We just didn’t take care of the things that we needed to.”
USU brought in two runs to get the second inning off to a stellar start, but it was UVSC who brought the streak to a halt with three players making it home. Dominating the fourth inning, the Aggies scored four times, sparked by home runs by Schaible and junior short stop Tara Evans.
“Tara came up with really a clutch home run,” Letts said. “It was really important at the time. It put us up six to four. We got off to a good lead.”
Freshman Stacey Ellingsworth and senior Lexy Perry offered their pitching skills to the team. Ellingsworth made a tough stand through the majority of the game, but bringing in the team’s senior pitcher was needed as the came drew to a close, Letts said.
With the seventh and final inning in full swing, the Wolverines took over the lead with their three runs, including a home run by sophomore pitcher Heidi Boyer. Game one found the Aggies on the losing end of a heartbreaking 7-6 score.
“In the seventh inning we just needed to shut the game down and do what we’re supposed to do, and we didn’t get it done,” Letts said.
With their recent loss looming in the distance, the Aggies geared up to take the field once more against UVSC. Game two began much like the previous game with USU only able to get one hit off by senior first base player Jamie Fife.
Three runs of five hits brought the Wolverines to an early lead in the bottom of the first. It wasn’t until the fourth inning when the Aggies scored their first run after UVSC had continued to score in the third. The game then stood at 4-1.
“We didn’t mentally say, ‘I want this game,'” Letts said. “We need to play better than that and the girls need to bounce back and get a little mad. They just need to get mad about getting beat, and in that second game maybe we won’t let them get out to a four-nothing lead on us.”
From there, the Aggies scored one more in the fifth inning,but could not get ahead of the Wolverines for the remainder of the game. Fife and Evans both hit the ball in the seventh inning, but UVSC dominated the second game of the double-header 4-2.
“We’ll work on being tougher, making sure that we don’t let up,” Letts said. “We’ll get after them, we’ll get after the ball, we’ll hit the ball, we’ll pitch the ball and it’s got to be the best it can be. If it’s not good enough then they’ll learn they have to deal with that.”
Aggie softball will head to San Jose, Calif., to face off against San Jose State University on April 20 and 21. The lady Aggies return home again on April 24 to play Idaho State University.
-eawads@cc.usu.edu