College Softball News

Utah Wins Slug fest with No. 17 California

Utah Softball

Courtesy of Utah Athletics

SALT LAKE CITY — Down 6-0 after just one half inning, Utah softball used a two-run first, four-run third and six-run fifth inning to complete a persistent comeback-win over No. 17/16 California, downing the Golden Bears 12-10 Friday evening at Dumke Family Softball Stadium.

Hannah Flippen, Kate Dickman and Kristen Stewart collected three hits apiece, while helping guide the Utes (26-13, 4-7) to its fifth-straight win overall and fifth-straight victory against the Bears (26-9, 4-7) dating back to last season. With the conference victory, Utah has now won four of its past five Pac-12 games.

After falling behind 6-0, Utah began its remarkable comeback with back-to-back home runs from Dickman and Marissa Mendenhall. Dickman went yard for a team-high sixth time this season and Mendenhall blasted her third dinger of the season to pull the Utes within four runs, down 6-2.

Sammy Cordova took over for Miranda Viramontes in the circle, and despite giving up a run in the top of the second inning to make it a 7-2 game, the sophomore managed to get out of a jam with a strikeout and a pair of ground outs to end the inning.

The Utes would get nothing across in the second inning, but countered in the bottom of the third inning with four runs on five hits. Flippen singled with one out in the inning to extend her hitting streak to a career-high 13-straight games and Dickman followed with a double to right field. Mendenhall drove in her second and third runs of the game when she pushed both runners home with a single up the middle. Shelbi Everett came in to pinch run for Mendnehall and she moved over to second on Stewart’s infield single to the deep right side of the shortstop. Heather Bowen then roped a double to right field, which scored both Everett and Stewart to bring the Utes within a run, down 7-6.

Cal would extend its lead to 9-6 in the top of the fourth inning with a pair of runs, but after Utah came up empty in the bottom of the inning, Cordova returned the favor with a three up, three down top of the fifth inning.

Flippen opened the bottom of the fifth with her fifth home run and Dickman followed beating out an infield single. Dickman stole second base — her 10th steal of the season — moved to third when Mendenhall fouled out to deep right field and then came home to score on a passed ball, pulling the Utes back within a run, down 9-8.

Stewart doubled to right field and she moved to third on Bridget Castro’s single to deep center field. Cal made a pitching change as Katie Sutherland-Finch came in to relieve starter Stephanie Trzcinski. but Bowen singled home Stewart on the first pitch she saw to tie the game 9-9. Maddy Woodard singled to load the bases and Bella Secaira came away with a pinch-hit single and Castro scored the go-ahead run. A few batters later, Flippen drove in her second and third runs of the game with a single that got just past the glove of the Cal second baseman to score both Seciara and Woodard, and give Utah a 12-9 lead.

Katie Donovan came into the game in the top of the sixth inning and gave up just one run on two hits in the inning, but then allowed just an infield single in the top of the seventh before getting the final batter to ground out and end the game.

Both teams combined to score 22 runs and tally 30 hits on Friday. Utah outhit the Bears 16-14 in the game, registering 15 or more hits in a single game since collecting 15 hits against Weber State back on April 8, 2014.

Cordova earned her second win of the season, giving up three runs on four hits and striking out three in four complete innings of relief for the Utes. The sophomore hurler is now 3-0 in three career game appearances against the Bears.

Donovan, who earned her fourth save of the season, becomes the first Utah player to record four saves in a season since Karina Cannon posted four saves during the 2006 season.

Flippen (3-for-4), Dickman (3-for-4) and Stewart (3-for-4) became the first Utah trio to record at least three hits each for the first time since Katelyn Elliott, Jackie Sweet and Hannah Clements did so at Idaho State back on March 29, 2012.

Flippen, Mendenhall and Bowen recorded three RBI each in the game and Dickman scored three runs. Dickman moved into sole possession of fourth-place on Utah’s all-time career runs list with 145 career runs scored.

The victory secures Utah of winning the series, which gives the Utes’ back-to-back Pac-12 series wins for the first time since joining the conference three seasons ago.

Jazmyn Jackson and Kylie Reed paced Cal’s offense with three hits each, but Trzcinski was hit with the loss after giving up 10 runs on 11 hits in 4.1 innings of work. She moved to 11-2 overall on the season.

Utah is back in action again on Saturday, Apr. 4 for the final contest of the three-game set. The Utes and Bears face off at 1 p.m. and the contest will be televised live on the Pac-12 Networks.

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