The Southern Utah University softball team will start their 2024 season with a five-game tournament. The Fullerton Easton Classic begins on Feb. 9 and will carry to Feb. 11. The Thunderbirds will take on the University of Illinois Chicago and the University of the Pacific for two games each, along with a game against Colorado State University.
UIC
The Thunderbirds’ sole Friday game will be against the Flames and the teams will play again on Sunday. The two have never met in competition.
In their 2023 campaign, the Flames went 9-43 overall and finished 11th out of 12 Missouri Valley Conference teams, right where they are projected to end up this season.
Alannah Cran was UIC’s best hitter last year. She hit .318 with a .743 on base plus slugging percentage to lead the Flames in both categories. She showed off her speed by becoming one of just four Flames to hit a triple and going 8-for-8 on stolen bases. Hailey Cowing provided some power in their lineup, leading the team in runs batted in and home runs. She brought 15 runs home and went yard three times. A third of her 33 total hits were for extra bases.
Their primary pitcher last year was Christina Toniolo, who collected a 3.99 earned run average and struck out 97 opponents through 173.2 innings pitched. She started in 22 games for the Flames and went the distance in 10 of them.
UIC hit .215 as a team in 2023, second-worst in the MVC. Their 4.89 team ERA is also second worst. Going into this spring, they will have 15 returning players and five new players.
Pacific
SUU will start their Saturday play against Pacific, followed by their second meeting on Sunday. This will be the first time the teams have seen each other.
The Tigers finished last in the West Coast Conference with their 10-30 record last year and are expected to come out at the bottom again according to the preseason coaches poll.
Though the team struggled to find the win column, they had a few standout hitters. Delaney Scully led Pacific in total hits with 35 as well as batting average at .300. Her third-best .708 OPS and nine RBIs came in part from her seven doubles.
Pacific’s RBI leader, Rian Dirmeyer, brought 17 runs around while hitting five home runs. Behind her with 12 RBIs each were Allie Capello and Carly Lucchetti, who were also second and third for Tiger batting averages with .277 and .261, respectively. Lucchetti graduated following last season, but Dirmeyer and Capello could still be offensive threats.
Vanessa Strong started more games than any other Pacific pitcher. She maintained a 3.54 ERA, which earned her the No. 10 spot in the WCC. Her 1.32 WHIP, or walks and hits per innings pitched, was good for fifth in the conference. She struck out 60 batters and allowed a .266 batting average.
Collectively, the team hit a .231 batting average and pitched a 4.58 ERA.
Colorado State
The Rams may be Southern Utah’s toughest opponent of the weekend. That matchup will take place on Saturday evening. Colorado State was No. 2 in the Mountain West Conference after finishing their season at 27-20, but the coaches poll believes they will finish third this year. SUU and CSU are 1-1 against each other but haven’t competed since 2016.
The most dangerous Rams hitter was Ashley York. She led the team in batting average, OPS and total hits, among other categories. Her .404 batting average was the best in the MWC. She contributed both power and speed, hitting five home runs and going 11-for-11 on the base paths in her 46 games played.
Hailey Smith may have been the team’s biggest bat after leading the herd with her 12 home runs, 44 RBIs and .631 slugging percentage. She was top five in the MWC for all three categories.
The Rams’ pitching was fairly average by Mountain West standards. They were seventh in ERA yet third in batting average allowed. With 185.2 innings pitched between them, Sydney Hornbuckle and Danielle Serna did the bulk of the work on the mound. They were the top two pitchers on the team when it came to ERA, strikeouts and batting average against.
CSU held a batting average of .306 and ERA of 5.03.
Southern Utah
The Thunderbirds were dead last in the Western Athletic Conference after going 6-33. They ended the season on a 12-game losing streak, during which they allowed an even 10 runs per game. The coaches poll suggests they will have a repeat of last year.
Emily Gonzalez, who will be starting her second year with the Thunderbirds, had an incredible debut season. Her .383 average was the best on the team and seventh in the WAC. She also led Southern Utah in OPS, slugging, runs scored, total hits, home runs, RBIs, OBP and extra-base hits.
With four home runs in 53 at-bats, Capri Franzen hit home runs almost as frequently as Gonzalez did. Franzen was also behind Gonzalez at second on the Thunderbirds in average at .358, OPS at 1.113 and RBIs at 17.
Junior Keimon Winston has been the go-to pitching arm for SUU for the past two years. In 2023, she posted an 8.20 ERA with a 2.59 WHIP and .409 opponent batting average. The Thunderbirds have gotten two new pitchers since last season, one being Brigham Young University transfer Delaney Baker. She pitched just 1.1 innings in relief for the Cougars in her freshman season.
SUU had an 8.39 team ERA and 2.55 team batting average. They have 11 returning players and 10 who are new to Thunderbird red, so some new faces might help the team turn a new leaf.
Author: Anden Garfield
Photographer: Anden Garfield
sports@suunews.net
