USU softball wins two of three in non-conference play
With a win against Utah Valley, Utah State broke a nine-game losing streak dating back to April 7. Sophomore pitcher Delaney Hull won her 10th game of the season — topping her nine wins in the previous season — and helped the Aggies battle through a tough game Saturday afternoon. It wasn’t until the sixth inning that either team would get on the scoreboard and one run proved to be enough as Utah State held on to a 1-0 win in Hull’s third shutout of the year.
Although the scoreboard didn’t show an exciting game per se, Utah State was able to get at least one player on base in every inning. The only Aggie to record multiple hits in the game also drove in the lone run. In the fourth inning junior infielder Ryann Holmes came to the plate as a pinch-hitter and got her first of two hits on the day. But with her second appearance at the place she drove what would prove to be the winning run, sending sophomore center fielder Stephanie Reed home.
Saturday’s game may have been a tight affair, but when the teams traveled up to Logan the next day the numbers on the scoreboard were indicative of a different pace of play from the Aggies.
Utah State knocked two solo shots out of the park in back-to-back innings to open the game, the start of a five inning run-rule victory over Utah Valley that ended 9-1. Freshman second baseman Kenzie Bolin was the third Aggie up to the plate in the bottom of the first and she made the most of her chance by sending a shot over the leftfield wall to put USU up 1-0. It was also senior day on Sunday and senior catcher Bailey Lewis hit her fourth homer of the year to put the Aggies up 2-1 in the second frame. Fellow seniors Bailee Trapp and Mia Maher were able to get hits on the day as well.
Photo by Iain Laurence.
Lewis’ homer was merely the start of an eight run onslaught from Utah State in the inning, putting the score at the final of 9-1 by just the second.
In four straight plate appearances an Aggie got a hit that drove in a run. Reed singled, sending in Maher. Next up to the plate was Bolin who doubled to send in junior outfielder Riley Plogger. Freshman shortstop Lexi Orozco followed by hitting a double of her own which sent Bolin home. Finally, Holmes singled and sent Orozco home by way of an error on Utah Valley. Two batters later Trapp would single to send home Holmes, thus ending the spree of runs the Aggies were sending home in the inning.
Among the standout performers of the day, Bolin had another good game at the plate with two hits and three runs batted in to lead the team. The back-to-back wins were the first two in a row Utah State had won since the beginning of March and put the team’s record at 15-28 for the year.
The team attempted to stretch the streak to three games with a win over BYU on Tuesday, but fell to the Cougars by a score of 5-2. It was the last road game of the season for Utah State and the team fell down to BYU right from the start. A three-run homer in the bottom of the first put USU down early on and were never able to recover the three-run deficit. Bolin and Trapp had two hits a piece on the day — Trapp sent Bolin home for the Aggies first run of the game in the fifth — but the two accounted for more than half the team’s hits and runs. With five runs on the board from BYU at the end of the fifth, the one one run scored in the next frame wouldn’t be enough for the Aggies.
The team dropped to 15-29 overall on Tuesday and are still just one game ahead of New Mexico at the bottom of the Mountain West standings. But, seeing two games go into the win column is always good for a team’s confidence, and it’s come at a great time of the season. Utah State enters its last weekend series of the year at home on Thursday and they’ll face conference foes San Diego State.
Twitter: @dren_sports