For the second weekend in a row, the University of Utah softball team fell to a high ranked team but didn’t go down without a fight. The Utes hosted No. 3 University of Washington in a three game series.
Game One
The first game of the series did not go well for the Utes as they earned only three hits off of Washington’s Gabbie Plain, the stud who has been rocking the Pac-12 in the circle. This was her 16th win of the season.
Ally Dickman earned two hits and Alyssa Barrera took one. The Huskies had a strong outing in the box and they had 13 hits to contribute to their 13-0 five inning shutout of the Utes.
Washington scored four early runs off of a triple, and three singles. They capped the win in the fifth inning with a grand slam from Noelle Hee that scored four runs to bring up the total for the end of the game.
Game Two
Although they started off on a high note, the Utes could not keep up as they fell 11-2 in their second match up against the Huskies.
The team started off strong in the second inning as they scored an early run thanks to BreOnna Castaneda who sent a hit off the wall for an RBI double. Washington scored in their next half inning after Hailey Hilburn successfully got out of six of the first seven batters in the game.
Utah grabbed the lead back with their only other run of the game in the bottom of the third with a sacrifice fly from Ellessa Bonstrom that scored Julia Noskin to make the game 2-1.
In the fourth inning, Washington put six runs across to bring their lead up to 7-2. They scored two more in the fifth and they sealed the deal in the seventh with two more runs in the seventh to get to the final score of the game.
Game Three
The final game of the series was a thriller for the Utes, and they came away with a 5-4 win over the Huskies. There were no runs scored in the game until the sixth inning when Washington started off the top of the inning with four runs.
The Utes did not give up, and they started off with three straight singles off of Plain, an improvement over game one. This was only her second loss of the season, and she has a 17-2 overall record.
With one run in and the bases loaded, Barrera came up to bat. She worked a 2-2 count and then launched a ball over the center field wall to bring the win to the Utes.
This Barrera’s second grand slam of the season, and it helped her to keep her batting average over .400. This victory was the fifteenth of the season for the Utes and their fourth in conference play.
Looking Ahead
Utah will host Weber State for one game on Tuesday, Apr. 23 and then they will head to Los Angeles to take on the UCLA Bruins the following weekend for three games.
c.overfield@dailyutahchronicle.com
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