This weekend, the Southern Utah University softball team is heading to San Diego, California, to compete in the Torero Classic Tournament, which will take place Feb. 16-Feb. 18. The Thunderbirds are coming off a hot weekend, having won four out of their five games in Fullerton, California. Competitors in the upcoming tournament are Colorado State University, Long Island University, the University of San Diego and Eastern Illinois University.
Colorado State
On Friday, the Thunderbirds will meet with the Colorado State Rams again, hoping to return from the 8-1 loss the Rams gave them last weekend.
During the Fullerton Eastern Classic, Maya Mastubara proved to be the strongest offensive player of the weekend for the Rams with an average of .500 and five runs scored out of the 23 runs batted in on the weekend. Mastubara also leads her team in slugging percentage, hits and doubles.
Danielle Serna and Sydney Hornbuckle return to the mound this season after being the leaders in the circle last year. Last weekend Serna mowed through teams, striking out 15 players and only allowing one run to score.
Serna and Hornbuckle are the starting pitchers for the Rams, leaving them with Reagen Wick, Giselle Bently and Delaney Saugstad coming in for relief. Serna’s earned run average for the weekend was 0.54, while Hornbuckle’s ERA was 2.80.
The Rams ended the weekend with a batting average of .294 and an ERA of 4.48.
Colorado State has already seen Thunderbird pitchers Kiemon Winston and Emily Delgado, having scored seven runs on Winston and one run on Delgado. The Thunderbirds saw Hornbuckle and Wick for the Rams and will likely be seeing one or both of them again this weekend.
Long Island University
The Thunderbirds will take on the Sharks twice this weekend, once on Friday at 12:30 p.m. and again on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. LIU is 2-3 this season and competed last weekend in the Florida Gulf Coast University Kickoff Classic in Fort Myers, Florida.
Kaylee Clarkson was the power hitter of last weekend, leading her team with an on-base plus slugging percentage of 1.165 and five RBIs. Clarkson also hit a rocket over the fence to help secure the win against Boston College last Saturday.
Along with Clarkson, Lily Hinkle is leading her team in batting average with a .429 and is consistently getting on base. Hinkle batted near the top of the lineup for the majority of the weekend, allowing her to be hit in by Clarkson, who was consistently batting third or fourth.
This weekend in the circle, expect to see Alyssa O’Donnell and Lindsey Cowans, two of the Sharks’ only three rostered pitchers. Both of these players have pitched 14 innings each, carrying the team by pitching 28 of the team’s overall 33 innings pitched.
O’Donnell held their opponents at the FGCU Kickoff Classic to four earned runs and had an ERA of 2.45. Cowans had an ERA of 4.40 and allowed seven runs across the plate.
The Sharks as a team have a batting average of .248 and an ERA of 4.36.
University of San Diego
SUU will meet up with the University of San Diego Toreros, the hosts of the Torero Classic, on Saturday evening at 5:30 p.m. and can be streamed on ESPN+.
USD had a rough start to their season after competing in the Stacy Winsberg Tournament last weekend in Los Angeles. The team is currently 0-5, making them last in the West Coast Conference, and they have scored only seven runs this season with an overall batting average of .153.
Tele Jennings is leading the Toreros with a .231 batting average and Emma Giaime, who also contributes to the Torero’s pitching roster, is behind her at a .222. Jennings has three hits with an OPS of .594, while Giaime has two hits and a .444 OPS.
Giaime and Kelsey Tadlock are the leading pitchers for the Toreros, but the team has a lot of backup with six pitchers on staff. Innings pitched are split up relatively even for the staff, with Tadlock throwing nine, Giaime throwing seven and Courtney Rose throwing five out of the team’s overall 30 innings. Tadlock is currently leading the team with eight strikeouts.
Giaime has an ERA of 5.00, followed by Tadlock with a 6.75. Collectively, the pitching staff has an ERA of 9.80 and only have 18 strikeouts on the season.
Last weekend, the Toreros competed against and lost to two NCAA preseason top 10-ranked teams in the country: the University of California, Los Angeles, who was No. 9, and the University of Texas, who was No. 5.
In the upcoming weekend, fans can expect the Toreros to put a lot more bat on the ball given they will not be playing any ranked teams.
Eastern Illinois University
EIU started their season with a bang, going 5-0 in the Mardi Gras Mambo Tournament last weekend in Youngsville, Louisiana. At the plate, the team is averaging .336 with 25 runs scored this season and are assumed to be SUU’s biggest competition of the weekend given the number of conference leaders on their roster.
Leading the team is Rachel Kaufman, who is smashing the ball right now by batting .500 with an OPS of 1.304. Kaufman has nine hits on the season with two doubles and a home run. She is also leading her team with five RBIs and is leading the Ohio Valley Conference in hits.
The Panthers are also seeing a lot of contact by Avary Makarwicz, who leads the team offensively with her .538 average and OPS of 1.307, having secured seven hits and three RBIs.
The batting lineup for the Panthers is strong with over 76% of their lineup batting over .333 and their top two batting in the .500s. Kaufman and Makarwicz are currently both top five in their conference for batting average.
In the circle for the Panthers is Olivia Price, who is currently leading her conference in innings pitched and ERA, only allowing one earned run with an ERA of 0.50 while pitching 14 of the Panthers’ 35 innings.
Another strong arm for the Panthers, only allowing two runs to score, is Mckenzie Oslanzi with an ERA of 1.14 and 12 innings pitched last weekend.
The pitching roster consists of four players who collectively shut down the teams they played last weekend with 28 strikeouts. The pitching staff only allowed seven runs to score with an overall ERA of 1.40.
Southern Utah University
The Thunderbirds are looking for more wins this weekend and are currently tied with Grand Canyon University for first in the Western Athletic Conference standings at 4-1.
Leading the Thunderbirds at the plate is Karmyna Becerra with a batting average of .444 and an OPS of 1.000. Becerra is also currently fourth in the WAC for batting average and first in hits with eight.
Another strong bat in the Thunderbirds’ lineup is Emily Gonzales, who is also on the leaderboard in the WAC with the second highest on-base percentage at .611 and third highest slugging percentage in the conference at .750. Gonzales has been a key power hitter for the Thunderbirds. With a batting average of .417 and a high OPS of 1.361, she also has one home run for the season.
Throwing to the plate for the Thunderbirds, fans can expect to see Delgado. She has been lights-out on the mound, not allowing a single run to score during her 13 innings thrown. Delgado is holding her opponents to a .089 batting average, only allowing four hits last weekend and leading her conference with 12 strikeouts.
Winston is also one of SUU’s key pitchers and threw 11 innings last weekend. Her ERA is 5.56 with 17 hits, 10 of which came from SUU’s one loss last weekend against Colorado State, who the Thunderbirds will see again on day one of the Torero Classic.
Author: Maggie Whipple
Photographer: Anden Garfield
Editor: Anden Garfield
sports@suunews.net
