USU softball has only completed two home games this season, play Thursday
Hosting a softball game seems to always bring a dark cloud with it for the Utah State women’s team.
The Aggies’ home game Tuesday afternoon with the University of Utah was called after three innings thanks to a relentless downpour which began midway through the bottom of the third.
USU was down 4-2 at the time of the umpires’ decision (to be an official game, five full innings must be played), but don’t think the cancellation made the home team happy.
The Aggies (6-28, 1-8 in Big West Conference play) have only been able to compete in two games at Johnson Field, and they lost both in a doubleheader against BYU on April 1.
A doubleheader against Southern Utah University on March 26 was canceled due to snow on the field, and it was the Aggies’ first scheduled home game of the season.
And making a living by playing on the road is never easy.
“We’ve played home one time, and that’s really, really tough for our team,” said second-year USU Head Coach Debbie Bilbao. “We’ve been on the road for, I don’t even know how many games – over 30. It makes it tough when you can’t play at home [and] it’s supposed to rain this weekend.
“I don’t know, I guess it just all goes bad all the time. [But] it’s been that way for everybody around the country. Alabama got four inches of snow, and they never get snow. It’s been a real interesting year.”
To make things worse, the Aggies were playing their best softball of the day just as the rain began to fall.
Down 4-0 in the bottom of the third, USU third baseman Stephanie Vasarhely bunted with two outs and runners on first and second.
Ute catcher Bryanne Durrence fielded the ball between home base and the pitcher’s mound, but her throw to first sailed over first baseman Niki Hayhurst’s head.
Aggie left fielder Marcie Neff scored from second and second baseman Quela Henderson scored from first, just before Durrence could make the tag.
The Utes gained the majority of their runs in the second inning, but under the circumstances, they probably shouldn’t have. With two outs, two on, and a full count, Hayhurst lined a home run over the left field fence.
“We’ve been giving up a lot of runs on two outs. That’s just something we’ve got to do a better job at,” Bilbao said.
“The one thing I’m really proud of is our defense has been playing really consistent. It’s just that I’d really like to see us pitch consistently, and I’d really like to see us score runs consistently,” she said.
Weather permitting, the Aggies continue their homestand Thursday at 2 p.m. with a doubleheader against Colorado State University (25-10, 6-4 in the Mountain West Conference), which is having its best season since 1998.
-samhis@cc.usu.edu