‘Everything was there’ for the Aggies Wednesday vs. Thunderbirds
How sweep it is.
Playing in front of a crowd that included several Southern Utah University fans, the Utah State women’s softball team showed the T-birds whose home field it was.
The Aggies swept a doubleheader from Southern Utah on Wednesday at Johnson Field.
“Everything was there today,” said USU head coach Pam McCreesh. “We played really good ball today.
USU 3, SUU 2
Up 2-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning, SUU had just taken a 2-1 lead and had its top pitcher on the mound in strikeout specialist Mandy Flint. The T-birds had the Aggies where they wanted them.
That is until junior catcher Breanne Nickle belted a two-run homer and pitcher Xochitl Ramirez retired the side in the seventh inning, giving the Aggies a 3-2 opening game victory.
“I’m just glad I could come through for the team,” Nickle said in response to her game-winning home run.
For the majority of the game, Ramirez and Flint kept the opposing batters off balance, allowing only three and two hits, respectively, through the first three innings.
USU would draw first blood in the second inning on an RBI single by shortstop Heather Curtis. While it was Curtis who came up with the big hit, it was Amanda Carlson and Markean Neal who gave the Aggies some life.
Carlson, who has been sidelined with a knee injury the majority of the season, lead off the inning with a single to right field. The Aggies then brought in Neal to pitch run for Carlson and Neal promptly stole second base, giving the Aggies their first runner in scoring position.
Consecutive hits by Kelly Grundy and Anna Leeman – Leeman’s hit was a double – tied the score at 1-1. Leeman would later score on an RBI groundout by Lacee Leprey, giving SUU the lead.
It didn’t last long.
A double by freshman Shannon Acevedo gave Nickle the only base runner she would need as her fourth dinger of the year put the Aggies ahead for good.
With the victory, Ramirez collected her second straight win and second straight complete game. Ramirez said her increased confidence level and accuracy as of late, has lead to her recent success.
“I felt I was really getting [the T-birds] off balance today,” she said.
“Mentally, [Ramirez] has gotten a lot stronger,” McCreesh said.
USU 9, SUU 4
Heading into Wednesday’s doubleheader, Aggie assistant coach Jason Salz said the team tends to play better when it faces the opposing team’s best pitcher.
He was right.
With the score deadlocked at 4-4 in the bottom of the sixth inning, Southern Utah replaced Lori Shepard with Mandy Flint – the team’s season record-holder for strike outs in a season. USU welcomed Flint to the tune of four hits and five runs (three credited to Flint) in the sixth as the Aggies completed the sweep.
“We were prepared in practice for the kind of pitches she would throw,” Nickle said.
Singles by Amanda Carlson and Marnie Andrews gave the Aggies runners on first and second with no outs, prompting the T-birds to insert Flint. Flint seemed to have the next Aggie batter, Heather Curtis, off balance at the plate, but Curtis battled back, fouling off several pitches.
Eventually, Curtis worked the count full before smacking a hard grounder at SUU second baseman Lacee Leprey. The ball took a funny hop on Leprey, giving Curtis an RBI single and a 5-4 Aggie lead.
Following a pop out by Casey Smith, second baseman Danielle Rodriguez capped off a sensational game (3-for-3 with two RBIs) when she laced a two-run double down the left-field line.
“It felt really good to get a hit with runners on,” Rodriguez said.
An RBI single by Nickle and an RBI triple by Stephanie Vasarhely later, the Aggies had turned a 4-4 barnburner into a 9-4 route.
Although the Aggies dominated the game after the third inning, it was the T-birds that jumped out quickly, taking a 4-0 lead into the bottom of the third.
Aided by two Aggie errors and a two-run bases loaded single by Erin O’ Donnell, the T-birds appeared to have momentum .
Like the first game, Nickle quickly changed that.
Shepard appeared to get herself out of a bases loaded jam when Shannon Acevedo grounded into a doubleplay. With two outs and runners on second and third, Nickle deposited Shepard’s offering over the center field for a three-run jack.
The Aggies’ success with runners in scoring position is what put them over the top, Nickle said.
“We’ve been pounding on that [principle] all year,” she said. “Everybody was hitting the ball today.”
For the game, USU collected 13 hits, including two each by Acevedo, Carlson (4-for-6 over the two games), Vasarhely and Nickle in addition to Rodriguez’s three. Nickle lead the Aggies with six RBIs in the twinbill.
Topping off what USU head coach Pam McCreesh called a “complete team effort” was the pitching of freshman Lisa Spencer. Spencer held the T-birds to only three hits over the last four innings.
USU will play its last home series this weekend against the University of California at Santa Barbara. The teams will play twice on Saturday and once on Sunday, starting at 1 p.m. The Aggies will conclude their season next weekend against perennial national power California State University at Fullerton.