USU Softball walks off Weber State, extends winning streak

LOGAN — It wasn’t looking good for Utah State Softball on Tuesday afternoon.

After coming back from multiple Wildcat leads, the Aggies found themselves in a 10-8 hole going into the bottom of the 7th inning.

The inning began with a USU groundout. The Aggies were two outs away from suffering their first loss in four games. Hope had not dwindled, however, because the heart of the Aggies lineup was coming up.

Claudia Medina and Gabriella Jimenez got on base, leaving the Aggies with runners on first and second with one out. The next batter was who all Aggie fans wanted at the plate. 

Lexi Orozco.

Orozco drove a liner into the gap in left-center field and scored one, but the second runner got thrown out at home. Orozco had ended up at third in the midst of all of this. 

The Aggies were now down one, with their only hope up to the plate: Zaia Castruita. Castruita sent a liner into left field. The outfielder backpedaled until all she could do was watch. 

Gone.

The crowd and players erupted, and Castruita was greeted with a huddle at home plate.

“I just wanted to hit the ball hard,” Castruita said.

The Aggies won the game 11-10 and move to 17-15 on the year, while Weber State moves to 22-8.

The game was relatively slow until the 4th inning. Before then, the game was deadlocked at one. 

In the top of the 5th inning, the Wildcats erupted. First, Faith Hoe drove in a runner off of an RBI single. Then, Mckell McCuistion crushed a grand slam.

Although runs came for the Wildcats, the Aggies never waivered. They remained stride for stride with Weber State until Castruita eventually ended it. 

“We stayed level the whole time,” said associate head coach Laura Heberling. “We stayed consistent hitting and also stayed consistent with pitching.”

The Aggies were able to tee off on Wildcat pitcher Amanda Sink. USU notched six earned runs off Sink and forced her out of the game in just 0.1 innings.

USU was led by Castruita, who went 1-4 but poured in three RBIs. Orozco went 2-3, and recorded an RBI. Jessica Stewart registered the win for USU.

Weber State was led by the offensive efforts of McCuistion, who went 1-3 and drove in five runs. Mika Chong also prolonged the game when she hit a home run as a pinch hitter to give the Wildcats the lead in the 7th inning. Mariah Ramirez suffered the loss for Weber State.

USU will look to extend their winning streak to six as they begin a series with the Colorado State Rams on Friday, April 1.

Featured photo by: Paige Johnson