Going toe-to-toe with one of the best teams in the nation, the Utes needed to bring their best when they went on the road to take on No. 5 Washington.
Despite the difference in ranking, Utah was able to split the two weekend games with the Huskies. The Utes dropped the first game 5-2 on Friday, but they were able to bounce back on Saturday with a 3-2 win.
“We had a great weekend,” said head coach Amy Hogue. “We were really optimistic.”
The first game was a story of missed opportunities for Utah. The game was quickly tied up at 2-2 in the second inning, but Washington was able to score in the second, fourth and fifth innings each to put the Utes away.
“We got runners on base,” Hogue said. “We just couldn’t find a way to hit them in.”
The week leading up to these games, Hogue was preaching that the team needed to go to Seattle with a positive mindset. After dropping the first matchup, Utah decided to put that game behind them and prepare themselves for the second showdown with a positive attitude. With the new approach, the Utes were able to take a tie game into the final inning against the highly-ranked Washington squad.
In that final inning, senior Chalese Hadley drew a walk, getting on base to start the inning. On the next play, Hadley took advantage of an error by the Husky catcher and easily took second base. In a strategic effort to get Hadley closer to home plate, freshman Hannah Flippen put down a sacrifice bunt which put Hadley on third base. In an inning that seemed to take forever, junior Kate Dickman was able to punch home the eventual game-winning score when she hit a sacrifice fly to center field.
“I was just trying to do my job,” Hadley said.
In that second-game win, Utah’s hitting was on point, as all nine starters recorded hits. The Ute pitchers also stepped up their game, starting with sophomore Kayce Nieto. She pitched the first four innings and allowed only six hits with two walks and a strikeout. Freshman Sammy Cordova came in as a relief and threw three strikeouts the rest of the game.
“Pitching was really ready,” Hogue said. “Couldn’t be more proud of Sammy.”
Hadley thought the great hitting performance shows the rest of the conference that everyone is a threat on the team. She mentioned the hitting was a lot better on Saturday and that they knew there was a chance to win the second game.
A third game was scheduled to be played on Sunday, but because of inclement weather, the game was cancelled. Weather has caused problems all season long for the Utes as the game on Sunday was the eighth game called because of rain this year.
Utah will next compete when it takes on BYU on Thursday at home. The game is scheduled to start at 6 p.m.
[email protected]