Attempting to redeem itself, the University of Utah softball team headed to California to compete against Stanford on Friday, March 31-April 2. Fortunately, the Utes didn’t have a repeat weekend after falling to Oregon, and they completed a sweep against the Cardinal.
“We came and did what we wanted to do,” said head coach Amy Hogue. “It is so tough to win games in this conference, and I’m really proud of what my team was able to accomplish this weekend. Every win is a big one.”
In the first game of the three-day series, Utah had a strong start to the opener in the first inning when senior Hannah Flippen singled, stole second and then ran home after a single from senior Anissa Urtez.
The second inning saw no action from either team. Stanford scored three runs on the Utes in the third, but following a double from senior Bridget Castro to left center in the fourth, the Utes countered with four runs of their own.
In the last inning of the night both teams scored three runs, but the Utes held on to win by two runs, 8-6.
Utah kept the momentum going for the second game against Stanford. The Utes scored eight times in the first three innings, whereas the Cardinal couldn’t get on the board until the fourth inning when it scored four runs.
Stanford didn’t score again for the rest of the game and the Utes put up an extra three runs to secure the win. Senior Bella Secaira singled to right field. Senior Delilah Pacheco bunted a ball which gave Secaira time to advance to second, and when freshman Alyssa Barrera followed with a single, all it took was one hit from Flippen that allowed Secaira to run home. Flippen and Barrera followed in suit behind Secaira and by the end of the game, Utah bested Stanford 11-4.
In the final game of the weekend, Pacheco scored one run in to give Utah a slight edge. The Cardinal then took a 2-1 lead over the Utes in the second inning, but the lead didn’t last for long.
Urtez singled to the right in the third inning, and that allowed Barrera to tie up the game. The Utes took the lead when Urtez scored crossed home base and three more Utes followed to extend the score. Neither team scored in the last four innings, and Utah won 6-2.
“I think it was a great weekend,” Flippen said. “We did what we were supposed to do, we did our jobs as a team and it was nice to see some of the kids that haven’t been producing as much to step up, get some hits and score some runs. Overall, we got better this weekend.”
Up next, the Utes the will head back home to compete against California in another three game series on Friday, April 7. First pitch on Friday is set to begin at 6 p.m.
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