Safe at home
If the Utah State softball team was plummeting out of control, it came to a screeching hault Thursday after the team swept a doubleheader against Northern Colorado 12-0 and 8-0.
“It felt great,” head coach Lonny Sargent said of the win. “I think our focus changed a little bit. We stopped worrying about our losing streak and our hitting streak not being very good right now. I think we just went out and played and enjoyed ourselves.
“That made all the difference in the world.”
The wins ended an eight-game losing streak for the Aggies. It started with a loss to UCLA March 17 in California.
On the first pitch of the second game, Sara Fleming smacked the ball into left field for a home run. It was the fourth home run of her season, the third coming in the earlier game against the Bears.
“We got into a little slump there and a lot of times a slump is just mental,” Fleming said. “I think we just came out in confidence, put it all together today and were able to get a lot of hits.”
Sargent said he was happy to see the Aggies being aggressive and hitting again.
“We always work on our hitting because our hitting has been struggling,” he said. “We’ve changed a few things this last week at practice and they seemed to pay off for us.”
Jessica Garnett pitched for USU in the second game. It was the first shutout of her career as she only allowed four hits in the game.
In the first game, pitcher Leslie Higley pitched her third career shut out. Higley said after the first game and win, the Aggies knew they could get another win.
She and Fleming both said this win was different from their previous losses because the Ags came into the game with confidence. Fleming said a lot of that confidence came from Sargent.
“He was always behind us all the time, always saying we can do it [that] it’ll happen,” she said. “We just had to put it together and be aggressive.”
In the first game, with two runs in the bottom of the first inning, Fleming hit her first home run of the day to give the Aggies three runs.
Eight Aggies had hits in the first game and USU had 12 runners come in. The 12 runs tied the Ags season-high on the year.
Sargent said both wins were important for the Aggies. He said it was important for the team to get a win.
“I think [the win] was crucial for our team,” he said. “If we had lost a couple more games it would have been a very tough ending in the season, but I think our kids are very excited to get this. To get some confidence going into a couple conference games this weekend.”
In the second game, six Aggies recorded hits to send eight runs in.
“Our team had to change our mindset together and that’s what we did,” Higley said. “We all wanted this, we needed this.”
The Aggies will next face UC Santa Barbara Saturday and Sunday in Logan. Sargent said he hopes the Ags can keep up their momentum and will be able to put a couple more runs on the board and will just “keep doing what we’re doing.”
Fleming also said a win this weekend over the Guachos is very important for USU. She said although the Aggies are only 1-8 in conference, a win would show where the Aggies really are in their conference.
“We know that we can beat them,” Higley said. “If we just come out and play our game. We’ve got to do all the right things, that’s when we win.”
-aedmunds@cc.usu.edu
USU´s Amanda Carver fields a ball hit to the outfield in the second game of Thursday´s doubleheader against Northern Colorado. After being shut out in five of their last seven games, the Aggies swept the series. (Photo by John Zsiray)