Having no time to rest since the road trip back from Los Angeles, the No.11 University of Utah softball team was back on the road on March 22 as it traveled to Provo. The Utes competed against in-state rivals BYU during the Wednesday night game, and although the Utes managed to score early in the second inning, they couldn’t hold off their opponent, and the Cougars defeated the Utes 4-3.
Utah had a slightly lower batting average than the Cougars in the game as the Utes were averaging .286 compared to BYU’s .333, but freshman BreOnna Castaneda thought her team hit the ball pretty well.
“Overall, I thought that we did well as a whole,” Castaneda said. “There were just a couple of situations that things didn’t work out our way.”
It wasn’t until the second inning that the Utes started to get the ball rolling. Castaneda bunted the ball, and it allowed her to reach first base. After a triple to the right center by senior Bridget Castro, Castaneda scored the Utes first run, and it gave the Utes a 1-0 lead.
The lead was cut short when the Utes failed to stop the Cougars in the third inning. BYU’s Libby Sugg hit a home run in the bottom third following her teammates Lexi Tarrow scored first, and the score was brought to 2-1 over the Utes.
Making a comeback in the fifth inning, Utah filled the bases, and senior Delilah Pacheco tied up the score after running home from third base. It wasn’t until junior Heather Bowen singled to center field and freshman Alyssa Barrera scored that the Utes took the lead, but again, it was short-lived when the Cougars scored twice in the bottom fifth and secured their lead over the Utes by the final inning.
“We were seeing the pitcher really well and we were hitting pretty well,” Pacheco said. “They just had one more hit than us, but overall I think we did really well.”
Up next for the Utes, they will open in their home stadium on Saturday, March 25 as they take on the Oregon Ducks. First pitch is set to begin at 1 p.m.
“We are all excited to play at home,” Pacheco said. “We are also excited and ready to play [Oregon]. I don’t think we need to change anything, just keep doing what we are doing.”
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