After poor weather conditions forced the cancellation of four home conference games for the U softball team, coach Mona Stevens said her team’s chances to catch San Diego State are all but gone.

“Nobody is going to reach San Diego State. It’s a race for second place,” Stevens said. “BYU got one of their games rained out against San Diego State and two of our games got rained out with them, so I think they are too far ahead.”

The only team the Utes have played against at home will be their opponent tomorrow in Logan, Utah.

USU (6-28) lost 6-2 to the Utes (16-21) earlier in the season at Ute Field, and probably won’t fare any better this time around, considering how well the Utes have been pitching.

Even though the Utes were shut out in a doubleheader against SDSU, the Ute pitching was great, only allowing four runs in two games.

“Heather [Bowlin] was absolutely fantastic last week,” coach Stevens said. “Jen [Pursell] was not at her best. She did a fairly decent job, but she is capable of more than that,” Stevens said.

Pursell pitched six innings and allowed three runs, while Bowlin allowed only one run in seven-and-one-third innings.

The Ute bats were silenced against the Aztecs, but the Utes probably won’t face that type of pitching for a while.

“Those were the best pitching performances we have seen all year long,” Stevens said.

It is unlikely the Utes will see those type of performances today at 3 p.m. against the Aggies, since the Aggies have an inferior squad.

However, coach Stevens gave her team a word of warning.

“You can never take Utah State for granted-they’re an improved team. We have to play better. We just need to be on the top of our game,” Stevens said.