After playing its first 24 games away from home against out-of-state schools, Utah Softball returned home to play in-state schools Southern Utah and BYU this last week. Though it’s considered a rivalry by most, head coach Amy Hogue downplayed the BYU game, treating it like just another game on the path to Pac-12 play.
“I don’t think a lot of the kids consider [BYU] a big rival anymore,” Hogue said. “We don’t even talk about it. It’s more important for us to get on a roll going into Pac-12 play, and that’s what we focus on the most.”
But The Holy War turned out to be far from a normal game for the Utes. The crowd was impressive, considering the game was played during a snowstorm. And just like the Utah-BYU basketball game, all the talk after the Utah-BYU softball contest was about one play.
In the seventh inning, BYU pitcher McKenna Bull hit Delilah Pacheco in the head with a pitch, causing Pacheco to fall to the ground and the crowd to go silent.
“At first, I didn’t really feel it. Then, after the game, that’s when I felt it,” Pacheco said. “I just bounced back.”
Pacheco recovered from being plunked in the head, scoring three runs in the ensuing game against SUU on Wednesday night.
“Coming in [to SUU], I had a headache, and I felt kind of nauseous, but it wasn’t anything too serious, just took some Advil and rested a bit,” Pacheco said.
Pacheco tweeted about the pitch after the game, attaching a video of the play with an eye-rolling emoji, which received 143 retweets and 265 likes. Former Utah quarterback Travis Wilson retweeted the video, writing “Really….”
While you wouldn’t think it in a softball game, the question has to be asked — was the pitch intentional headhunting?
“I don’t know — all I know is it was straight to the head,” Pacheco said.
Pacheco said that in-state games carry a special significance for the team.
“We’re all from the same area, and we want to prove that we’re the best in Utah — and we are, just some games get away from us,” Pacheco said.
To say that these games simply don’t matter, despite it being out of conference, isn’t right. This was evident, as the team was visibly upset after dropping the 5-4 contest to the team down south.
“It was pretty hard [to lose to BYU] because we were fighting really hard at the end, and we just couldn’t get that last run,” said pitcher Miranda Viramontes. “It just sucks.”
In the second-to-last in-state battle the Utes will play in all season — Weber State on March 29 — the result turned out a lot better for Utah. The Utes beat Southern Utah by a combined margin of 23-5 over the two contests on Wednesday, giving them some momentum going into the start of Pac-12 play against No. 24 Oregon State on Saturday.
“I think we are [ready],” Pacheco said. “We did a lot of stuff today that we hadn’t done in other games, so I think it’s good knowing that we can do them, and then take that into conference.”
@JoeColesChrony