The Utah softball team had its first home series last weekend and the Utes played one of the best teams in not only the Pac-12, but the entire country in Oregon. And just like their football counterparts, the Ducks can run up the score very quickly.
Oregon has only lost three games this season, and has proved to be very dominant in its games. Unfortunately for the Utes, that trend didn’t change last weekend.
As might be anticipated from playing such a difficult opponent, Utah dropped all three games in the series. The closest game of the series was the home opener for the Utes, as they kept it close with the one of the top five ranked teams in the country, but ultimately fell to the Ducks 4-2.
Despite the eventual loss, the Utes showed their resilient nature in this game as they entered the seventh inning down 4-0. Kristen Stewart started the inning off with a single and later in the inning Shelby Pacheco drove in a pair of runs for the Utes. The Ducks were eventually able to stop the late-inning rally and end the game.
Utah came to play in this game, however, and had high expectations. The Utes were decent at the plate, notching six hits, though obviously it wasn’t enough. Oregon recorded 10 hits in the contest.
On Saturday, the matchup produced a bit more offense than the previous day did.
“Our goal was to start our Saturday game the same way we ended the first game,” Kate Dickman said.
After scoring two runs in the last inning the previous day, the Utes started the game off with a run in the bottom of the first inning via a Dickman solo home run. Utah finally got the offense outpouring that it had been looking for over the last several weeks.
“We tried not to be too patient at the plate,” Dickman said. “We knew we were going to need to score runs to win.”
The Utes did put up nine runs, but those nine weren’t enough to top Oregon’s 15 runs. Both teams were very efficient turning hits into runs, as Oregon had 15 runs off of 16 hits and Utah turned 10 hits into 9 runs.
Though the offense was there, the defense took a step back. The Utes allowed three errors which turned into four unearned runs in the contest. Ute captain, Dickman, knew the Ute defense just wasn’t up to par like it normally is and it could’ve been worse.
“We gave them more runs than just the ‘unearned’ ones,” Dickman said. “We could have made some more aggressive plays on defense.”
Despite the losses, the Utes were able to come away from both games knowing they competed and gave it a good shot.
As far as their last game goes, it’s probably best for the Utes to just forget about it and move on. Utah was shutout by Oregon 12-0 on Monday.
Utah’s offense only recorded two hits compared to eight from Oregon. Oregon pitcher Cheridan Hawkins pitched a complete game, striking out nine while only walking one. Hawkins improved to 13-2 on the season.
It was a tough start of conference play for Utah having to take on UCLA and Oregon. So though the Utes are still looking for their first win in Pac-12 play, they have played against some top talent and have improved greatly.
Next up for Utah is a trip to Palo Alto, Calif. to take on Stanford. The first game will be on Friday at 3:00 pm PT.
@brock_jensen02