The Utah softball team made some significant strides during their series against Stanford last weekend, getting its first road series win since joining the Pac-12.
As is the case with nearly anything in life, there is a bit of an adjustment period that takes place when something changes, especially at the college level. When Utah switched conferences from the Mountain West to the Pac-12, it was a big deal for nearly every aspect of the school. It affected how the U was viewed and the schools it would be grouped with, including schools like Cal and Stanford.
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For athletics teams specifically, this change brought a lot of different opponents Utah would be facing off against nearly every year. The Pac-12 is an extremely competitive conference, and arguably the best all-around athletic conference in the nation.
Softball is just one of the sports that has been very competitive within the Conference of Champions. Utah has needed a few seasons to adjust, and understandably so, but it seems like the Utes are ready to shed the newcomer title and become a legitimate threat.
They took a critical step in that direction last weekend.
Entering the series against Stanford, Utah had yet to win a conference series on the road. Prior to the start of the season, Utah coach Amy Hogue noted this was an improvement the program needed to make.
“The fact that we have only won one conference game on the road is something I think about a lot,” Hogue said at the beginning of the season.
Well it’s something she won’t have to think about much anymore. Her Utes went out and not only matched their previous conference wins, but got another one against the Cardinal to clinch the series.
“I feel like it’s been a big team effort,” senior Marissa Mendenhall said.
It wasn’t easy, though the Utes sure made it look like it by winning the first and third games of the weekend slate.
“It’s hard to win games on the road,” Hogue said. “We hadn’t won a series on the road before so this was a pretty big deal to come away with the series win.”
Utah won’t spend too much time celebrating the program’s accomplishment, as the Utes have loftier goals for the season. They won’t have much time to think about it either, as they have a doubleheader in the middle of this week.
Utah plays Southern Utah in two games on Tuesday at the Utah Softball Stadium. These games will provide a great opportunity for a little bit of in-state rivalry. The Utes aren’t taking this doubleheader lightly though, as the Thunderbirds are hungry for a chance to take down a much larger school.
“It’s a huge game for them so we’ve got to recover fast and come ready to play,” Hogue said. “We can’t just roll in and expect to win games. That’s not how it works in college softball.”
Hogue and the rest of the team are excited to have a slower travel schedule this week and to enjoy some time playing on their home field in front of a Utah crowd.
The first game is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. with the second following at 6 p.m. MT.
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