Coming off of three straight wins against fellow Pac-12 opponents Oregon State and Washington, Utah softball entered the tournament with high spirits and their eyes set on claiming a second consecutive title.
Game 1
The first round of the tournament paired Utah with the Oregon Ducks, an opponent the Utes claimed only 1 of 3 against during their series earlier this season. The Ducks wasted no time getting out ahead of the Utes this time, with two doubles straight out of the gate to snag two runs. Utah remained focused, getting Julia Jimenez and Leilani Melendez on base early in the second before getting cut short. Unwavering, the Utes went back into the third with Abby Dayton lined up to hit. A single sent her to first base while Kaylah Nelsen stepped up, who subsequently delivered a double to send Dayton home.
Oregon didn’t have much of a response in the fourth, and a slate of errors by the Ducks brought the Utes good favor in the fifth. Karlie Davison opened the inning with a single, eventually grabbing second base after an error also saw Aliya Belarde reach first. Another fielding error helped Haley Denning to first, when the Ducks managed to clean up their act and tagged Davison out at home. Another single from Nelsen followed by Sophie Jacquez saw Belarde and Denning through the play, upping the score to 3-2 for Utah.
The bottom of the fifth brought an equalizing run from Oregon, putting the pressure on Utah. The sixth saw the Ducks eke out one more on the last play, threatening victory. With one inning left to go, the Utes had a final shot to defend their title.
Denning opened the action with a single down third, before Dayton came in to do the same. Jimenez came in to pinch hit, when a passed ball gave Denning time to run home. All tied up, freshman Shonty Passi stepped up to the plate with two outs on the board and two runners on base. In true heroic fashion, Passi nailed a homer to left center, tacking on three more runs to the four already scored. Oregon did their best to catch up in the bottom half, but ultimately fell short to the Utes 7-4.
Game 2
The following day, Utah moved on to face the Stanford Cardinal, who defeated the California Golden Bears the day before. The Utes lost a slate of three games earlier this season to the No. 5 Cardinal, but energy was still high after the comeback against Oregon.
Utah got out ahead of it early, with Belarde walking to first to open up play. Denning came up next, reaching all the way to second on an error from Stanford’s first base, pushing Belarde to third. A reliable single from Nelsen brought Belarde home, handing the Utes the first run of the game. Stanford kept quiet, and in the third Belarde was the first back on base. Denning and Nelsen followed suit with singles of their own, with Nelsen claiming her second RBI of the weekend as Belarde made her second run of the day. Stanford gave rumblings of another upset, when the seventh inning allowed the Cardinal a run with three still left on base. However, Belarde put an end to the idea after tagging the last runner out at second, giving Utah the upset at 2-1 instead.
Game 3
Having made it past Oregon and Stanford to claim their spot in the Pac-12 championship game, the Utes faced off against UCLA in hopes of one more upset to keep their title. The Utes also lost their series against the Bruins back in March, but as the previous day’s game demonstrated, this past performance does not necessarily indicate that all hope is lost.
UCLA was the one to kick off scoring this time, with a clean homer in the bottom of the second. Utah’s turn came in the fifth, when Davison tied it up with a homer of her own, though unfortunately with no runners on base. The Utes couldn’t match it in the sixth, and the inning turned over to the Bruins where another homer was delivered on the first play to up UCLA 1-2. Regrettably, Utah struck out in the seventh, forcing them to relinquish their Pac-12 title to UCLA.
Though the Utes couldn’t successfully defend their title, their admirable performance in the Pac-12 tournament was enough to earn the team a spot in the NCAAs. NCAA Regionals are set for May 17, when the Utes will challenge No. 25 South Carolina for a spot in the Super Regionals. The match can be viewed on ESPNU and ESPN+ at 10 a.m. MST.
