Softball team competes in Marucci Desert Classic

Utah State softball competed last weekend at the UNLV-hosted Marucci Desert Classic, going 1-3 on the weekend while facing Seattle, Florida International, Buffalo and Hawaii.

In the tournament, the Aggies were without sophomore pitcher Kellie White and freshman pitcher Delaney Hull, who were suspended for a violation of team rules. This left a big load on freshman Stephanie Reed and senior Jordyn McCracken to fill in. Reed pitched one full game, and McCracken pitched three full games, including back-to-back games on Saturday.

Against Seattle, the Aggies were the first to put a score up on the board. Senior third baseman Amee Aarhus was the first to make it on base in the top of the second inning by hitting a triple to left center, and freshman designated player Joely Williamson hit a single to bring Aarhus home.

The Aggies built up a lead during the third inning, with sophomore outfielder Riley Plogger hitting her first home run of the day. With that home run hit, Plogger also brought senior outfielder Jazmin Clarke across the plate to add to USU’s score.

In the bottom of the third, Seattle quickly caught up and took the lead. Three-straight singles brought in the Redhawks first run of the game, with a three-run home run following after, and one more unearned run off of a single up the middle brought Seattle to the lead.The Redhawks took advantage of seven errors made by Utah State to add four more runs to their score before the Aggies could score again. Senior catcher Brina Buttacavoli helped the team catch up to Seattle in the top of the sixth with a two-run home run, but Seattle came out on top.

Later that day, Utah State went up against FIU. The Aggies were the first to score again, when sophomore second baseman Devan Sperry hit a double down the right field line to send Jazmin Clarke home from second. After that, the Golden Panthers scored seven runs, starting with a sac fly and a double in the bottom of the first.

FIU proved to be tough competition, with six hits in the bottom of the second inning and adding five more runs to their score. In the top of the third, freshman outfielder Leah Molina led off with a single through the left side, when Plogger came in with her second home run of the day to bring Molina home.

The Golden Panthers continued to plow ahead through the game, with back-to-back doubles and a two-run home run in the bottom of the third. The inning ended with the Aggies making their first double play of the season. FIU hit another homer in the bottom of the fourth, and Utah State was able to come up with four hits in the top of the fifth, but only managed to score one run off of an FIU error. The game ended with the Panthers ahead with an eight-run lead.

Saturday was the last day of play for the Aggies, where they picked up a win against Buffalo 15-10 and a loss to Hawai’i 3-1.

Utah State held strong against Buffalo by taking a 4-0 lead in the top of the first, and adding four more runs on top of that before the Bulls could put up a score in the bottom of the fourth with a three-run home run. In the top of the fifth the Aggies responded with three more runs, but the Buffalo’s offense lit up during the bottom of the inning by putting up seven runs and bringing the score within one point.

With two errors against the Bulls’ one, USU out-hit Buffalo 19-15 and ended the game with the winning score of 15-10.

In the final game of the tournament, against Hawai’i, both teams fought to produce a score for the board, when the Aggies finally put up a number in the bottom of the fifth thanks to Bailee Trap hitting her first home run of the season.

The one run lead did not last long when Hawai’i came back in the top of the sixth to tie the score, and then taking the lead in the top of the seventh with a two-run double. The game looked hopeful for Utah State as they got two runners on base in the bottom of the seventh, but the contest ended in a strikeout with a final 3-1 score.

Next weekend the Aggies will be back to compete in tournament hosted by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. USU will go on to play against the host Islanders, as well as Omaha and Texas Southern.