Softball article in Utah Statesman (Oldham)

By: Chet Gardner

The Aggies softball team snapped their losing skid on Saturday afternoon with a 4-1 victory over the San Jose State Spartans. The game was the second game of a 3-game series. USU fell 9-1 on Friday night and lost a close one, 3-1 in the second game on Saturday.

The win put an end to a 13-game WAC losing streak for the Aggies, dating back to last season.

USU junior pitcher Kate Greenough had a phenomenal performance to help get the Aggie victory on Saturday. She pitched a complete game 4-hitter and only gave up one run. With only one strikeout in the game, Greenough had a lot of help from the defense.

Utah State coach Candi Letts said, “Today we handled the ball, we didn’t boot it around. We really took care of business and controlled the game.”

Coach Letts stated how happy she was with the hitting of junior Emily Reilly, freshman Gina Rawls and many others in the win.

Reilly had the first RBI of the game in the second inning as she knocked in freshman Jasmine Harris, who had singled to start the inning. San Jose State answered back in the fourth inning, scoring one run off of Greenough. However she got out of a one-out jam with runners in scoring position to keep them from scoring any more. And that was it as far as scoring goes for the Spartans.

USU tacked on a run in the fourth inning with a single by senior Jeanine Hernandez and tacked on a couple insurance runs in the seventh for good measure. The damage was done by many base-runners in the seventh inning for USU.

Letts was very pleased with the effort after losing badly the night before to the same team.
“We played with much more energy and at a higher level today,” Letts said. “They just finally took a breath and realized what they can do and what they should do (to win).”

The story of the second game of the double-header Saturday was put simply by the USU coach. “We didn’t get that timely hit,” Lett said, “The bottom line is we left too many people on base.”

USU got another gem of a performance in the pitchers spot by senior Lindsey Benson in the second game, but to no avail. Benson gave up only four hits, but took the loss falling to 1-13 on the season.

The Spartans were able to get the first three runs of the game over the first five innings on timely hitting and key errors by the Aggies. The Aggies would fight back with base runners in the sixth inning. Shortly after a triple by junior Simone Hubbard, senior Aubrie Stroman was able to hit her in with a double to left-center. But the threat from Utah State would end there as 3-1 would prove to be the final.

USU now holds a 7-21 overall record, and 1-5 in WAC play.

The Aggies will play Utah Valley on Tuesday March 31 in Orem and then resume WAC play this weekend in Logan as they play host to the Aggies of New Mexico State. They will play a 3-game series starting Friday.

Utah State will strive to get better at hitting in clutch situations as they get ready for the Wolverines and Aggies.

Letts said, “Performing with some pressure has got to be our number one goal.”

-chet.gardner@aggiemail.usu.edu