The sounds of a saw cutting into metal and the sight of heavy machinery aren’t common at softball practice, but they are in Utah’s case. With construction workers cutting, carrying and corresponding in order to make progress on the half-finished Utah Softball Stadium, one might expect games wouldn’t be played there for another year.
Nevertheless, the Utes (13-13-1) will debut in their new park against Utah Valley University tonight at 6 p.m. The stadium, which was supposed to be finished by the end of January, isn’t completed, but the field and bullpens are ready to go, so the home opener will continue as planned.
This will be the second time this year the Utes and Wolverines have faced each other. On March 5, Utah beat UVU in a 10-inning, back-and-forth matchup. Because of today’s contest, the Utes didn’t take yesterday to rest after losing to Cal over the weekend.
Since the contest three weeks ago was so close, Utah players and coaches recognize they’ll be in for a battle tonight. In particular, Utah head coach Amy Hogue is focused on UVU’s pitching.
“Tiffany Mills is going to make us work,” Hogue said. “She doesn’t walk kids, and she makes you hit stuff on the corners all day long — stuff that is down and off speed and away from you — which has been tough for us. We are going to have to be disciplined as hitters to not over swing and just to drive the ball hard to the right side and hit early and often.”
So far this season, hitting early and often has been a problem for the Utes. They have had to rely on defense and pitching to keep them in games while seeing just sporadic outputs of offense, mostly against weaker competition.
“If we don’t [hit], we’re going to end up in an extra-inning game with them if we’re lucky,” Hogue said. “If we do that early and often, then that will be a fun game for us and for a home opener at our new stadium.”
The game will be the first in a four-game homestand for Utah, as it will return to Pac-12 play on Thursday against Arizona.