Road woes continue at Diamond Devil Invitational
The USU softball team had a disappointing weekend at the Diamond Devil Invitational in Tempe, Ariz., going 0-5. The last game was Sunday against WAC foe New Mexico State where they lost a close one, 4-2.
After the weekend the Aggies fell to 3-12 on the season.
USU did not play well to start the tournament and had a hard time finding their way back to playing the way they’re capable of playing.
“When you don’t play well and you start thinking too much, you start losing a little confidence, then everything you’ve done to get confidence, you can’t find it anymore, and it takes a while to get it back,” said USU coach Candi Letts.
The Aggies started the weekend with a Friday game against Southern Utah. The Thunderbirds started off quick, scoring the first three runs of the game, but USU junior Emily Reilly hit a bases loaded single in the fourth inning that scored two runs and cut it to 3-2. That score held until SUU exploded for six runs in the seventh, and eventually went on to win, 9-3.
That night the Aggies faced the defending Women’s College World Series champion Arizona State Sun Devils. Things didn’t go very well from the get-go for USU. ASU scored three runs in the first inning and five in the third inning to go up 8-0.
The Sun Devils held the Aggies to just one hit and only four base runners all game. Junior Simone Hibbard recorded the lone hit with a single in the fourth inning. Hibbard and freshman Gina Rawls and senior Aubrie Stroman each walked in the game.
Saturday the Aggies played better against Northern Colorado and South Alabama, but with the same results as the first day.
The game against Northern Colorado was a rematch of a game earlier this season in which Utah State won 8-2. This time the Bears got the best of the Aggies, 3-1. The Bears manufactured a couple of runs in the first inning, and that would prove to be enough to hold off the Aggies. Freshman Rayna Bradshaw had the lone RBI for USU on a fielder’s choice in the fifth inning
The story of the day for USU was not being able to get runners in once they reached base. They out-hit Northern Colorado 8-5 in the loss.
The inability to hit runners home continued in the game against South Alabama and they eventually fell 5-1. The Aggies would only get one hit in the game but had many runners on. The lone run came when Rachel Evans was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. The only hit came from Michelle Workman who connected on a single in the third inning. The Jaguars had eight hits off of USU pitcher Lindsey Benson who pitched all seven innings, but fell to 0-6 on the season.
Letts said the team did some good things defensively but left too many players on base.
The Aggies fought hard to get out of their slump Sunday against New Mexico State but lost.
The Aggies will resume play this weekend at the Cal Poly Tournament beginning Friday against UC Riverside at 10 a.m. The tournament is in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
“It’s now back to work,” Letts said. “They know they have to work a lot harder and do a lot more to get back to where they want to be.”
–chet.gardner@aggiemail.usu.edu