The Utes opened up Pac-12 play versus Cal during the weekend by losing all three games. Cal beat Utah convincingly 6-0 on Friday, 9-4 on Saturday and finished the series with a 4-1 win on Sunday.
The star of the weekend was Bears pitcher Jolene Henderson, who pitched all 21 innings against the Utes and became Cal’s all-time wins leader. The senior notched career win No. 120 on Sunday. Throughout the three games, Henderson allowed just five runs.
Even though Henderson was solid and the Bears won each game handily, the majority of their runs came in one inning in each game. On Friday, Cal scored all of its runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Most of the damage was done in the first inning on Saturday and the third inning was Utah’s undoing on Sunday.
“That’s why we lost, because of those one innings,” said left fielder Kate Dickman on Sunday. “Those one innings won the game for them.”
Dickman was one of the few players to have some success against Henderson, as she connected on five hits during the weekend. She said going up against Henderson helped the Utes focus on being more aggressive.
“Our focus is just to attack and go for the first or second [pitch] and not get behind in the count,” she said.
Utes head coach Amy Hogue said each major spurt from the Bears was caused by a mistake or an error that Cal capitalized on.
“Great teams capitalize on any mistake … that is all it takes, is a mistake to open the gates,” Hogue said. “So oftentimes we made an error and then the gates were left open for them.”
Despite the losses, the fact that Utah stayed close with Cal for the most part has players and coaches confident moving forward.
“This weekend really showed us we can beat every team,” Dickman said. “We were in every game and we could have won every game this weekend … We all believe we are going to make it into the postseason, but we’re just taking it one game at a time.”
Hogue said a major positive from the series was improvement at the plate.
“We definitely hit the ball better this weekend than we did last weekend against the teams that were in Hawaii,” Hogue said. “We did take a step up offensively and yet it didn’t equate to a win, but I feel our confidence level as hitters improved. I’ve never been more excited to come home and play some games, and even [more] excited for our next Pac-12 series.”