Softball’s slide continues
The Utah State softball team traveled to BYU on Wednesday to play in a doubleheader. The Aggies lost the first game 5-1, and lost 4-3 in extra innings in the second game.
“The second game we came and Leslie [Higley] threw a heck of a game and I was really proud of her,” Head Coach Debbie Bilbao said. “She deserved to win and had an opportunity to win.”
Utah State scored the first two points of the second game, leading
2-0.
“Defensively, we were right in the ball game,” Bilbao said. “We had opportunities to win. We came out early offensively and struck first scoring two runs. After that, when you go to extra innings, it’s anybody’s ball game.”
After a very disappointing doubleheader against SUU last week, Utah State was swept by an in- conference rival, losing three games to No. 22 Long Beach State over the weekend.
Not only were the Aggies unable to pull out a win in their three games, Utah State was unable to score any runs. USU was outscored a combined 25-0 in the series.
On Saturday, the Aggies participated in the final game of their three game series against Long Beach State. The first two innings of this game were full of scoring, but all the runs were on one side of the scoreboard.
LBSU scored seven runs in the first inning and nine runs in the second inning to cruise to an easy victory over Utah State. The final score to the game was 16-0.
Kelly Leos was the only USU player to tally a hit during the whole game.
“We weren’t having the offensive production,” Bilbao said. “We weren’t getting a lot of people on base and we weren’t executing at the plate very well.”
On Friday, Utah State played in a doubleheader against LBSU. These two losses would be the first two Aggie losses in conference. And after their loss on Saturday, it would even up their league record to 3-3. USU’s overall record is 7-27.
The second game of this doubleheader showed the Aggies getting no-hit for the third time this season. Lindsey Knoff, the starting pitcher for Long Beach State, went the distance and pitched a perfect game, becoming only the sixth pitcher in school history to do that.
Knoff pitched seven innings without any walks and three strike outs.
This game was actually tied until the bottom of the fifth inning when LBSU opened up for three runs on USU’s pitcher Jessica Garnett. Then they added one more insurance run in the bottom of the sixth inning to waltz to victory 4-0.
The first game of the series was the only game the Aggies had more than one hit during the game. They had four, each hit by a different player – Candice Hatch, Quela Henderson, Sara Fleming, and Michelle Vlahos – respectively.
“Offensively, we just didn’t put pressure on them and if we did I think we would have come out of there with at least one win,” Bilbao said.
Long Beach State scored one run in the bottom of the third inning to gain the lead 1-0 over Utah State, but in the bottom of the sixth inning the bats for LBSU came alive, scoring four runs en route to the victory.
-kcaustin@cc.usu.edu
Michell Vlahos scoops a grounder that got through the infield against Cal State April 4. Utah State´s record is 7-27 on the year, though its losses to Long Beach State were its first conference losses. (Photo by John Zsiray)