USU Softball swept in hard-fought series against Fresno State
Utah State softball freshman shortstop Lexi Orozco set a new program homerun record on Saturday by hitting her 13th of the season, passing three players on the list with 12 each.
Unfortunately for Utah State, the team was unable to come away with a win and was swept by Fresno State in the three games, adding to what has now stretched to a six game losing streak. After falling down 10-0 to the Bulldogs in Thursday’s series opener, Orozco helped the Aggies in an attempt to make a comeback by hitting a grand slam to dead center in the fifth inning. Utah State was already starting to find its swing by the bottom of the inning when Orozco hit her second grand slam of the season.
Sophomore Stephanie Reed, junior Riley Plogger and freshmen Kenzie Bolin and Hannah Sisul all reached base in the inning, scoring one run when Bolin singled to right — driving in Plogger. A few batters later, junior Allanah Alvarado stepped up to the plate and drilled a solo-shot over the wall in left-center, bringing the Aggies within four runs.
But the Aggies weren’t able to muster up any more offense and eventually fell 11-6 to Fresno State after the Bulldogs put up another run in the seventh. This handed sophomore pitcher Delaney Hull her ninth loss of the season and Utah State’s 23rd of 2019.
Friday’s game was a lot more of a battle, and Utah State led for the first time in the series in the fourth inning. Bolin and Orozco were both on base in the bottom of the inning, with Orozco in position to score, when Alvarado smacked a single into center field to drive in a run and put the Aggies up 2-1. Freshman pitcher Kapri Toone gave up just one run heading into the fifth inning, until Fresno State junior third baseman Schuylar Broussard hit a solo shot to tie the game up at two a piece. Utah State went cold from then on and the Bulldogs capitalized in the seventh with three runs, and eventually pulled out the win by a score of 5-2. The Aggies once again had eight hits for the day, two off the bat of Orozco, but weren’t able to spark enough offense to top Fresno State.
Down 2-0 in the series heading into Saturday, Utah State pushed the game into extra-innings before Fresno State was able to shut the team down and pull off a 7-5 win after nine innings. But once again, a handful of Aggies were hot at the plate and smacked nine hits off Fresno State. In fact, Orozco kicked off the third inning with the first run from either team when she smashed a solo-shot to left field. Senior first baseman Bailee Trapp followed Orozco immediately after with a solo-shot of her own — and her eighth of the year — this time to dead-center. This put Utah State up 2-0, but in the next frame Fresno State came right back with a two-run shot, once again off the bat of Broussard.
The chess match continued in the home half of the inning when Orozco drilled a sac-fly out to center field, driving home Plogger to put the Aggies up 3-2. The game went scoreless in the fifth, but Fresno State started right back up in the top of the sixth with three runs. Broussard smashed her second homer of the game — her third of the series — putting Fresno State up 5-3 heading into the bottom of the frame. That’s when Orozco cranked her record-breaking 13th homer of the season to dead-center, also her second of the game. And Utah State was back in the lead, by a score of 6-5.
Fresno State wasn’t done hitting homers, and although it took until the ninth inning, the Bulldogs struck with a solo-shot to left field, putting the score at 6-5. Another run would go on the board for Fresno State and the Aggies were unable to work any more magic in the bottom of the ninth to pull out a win. After seven played and two extra innings, Fresno State pulled out the win and the series sweep, handing Utah State its sixth straight loss.
Orozco not only broke the Utah State single-season record with her 13th home run, but put herself at the top of the Mountain West leaderboard in that category. She now lands in the top fifteen in categories including hits, batting average, runs batted in, total bases, slugging and homeruns to name a few.
Utah State heads to San Jose this weekend to take on the Spartans, carrying a 4-13 conference record with the team. San Jose State is second in the conference and has won two straight, both against UNLV where the Spartans played over the weekend.
Dalton Renshaw – @dren_sports