Aiming for back-to-back series wins, the Southern Utah University women’s softball team battled Seattle University on Friday, April 18, and Saturday, April 19, in Seattle. SUU won the series, winning both games on Friday.
With the two wins and one loss, Southern Utah improves to 13-24 on the year and 8-10 in the Western Athletic Conference. Seattle falls to 24-19 on the season and 9-9 in WAC play.
Game one
Game one of the three-game series was a battle of good pitching and defense. In the bottom of the first, Taylor Fitch singled to left field, scoring the first run of the game. SUU responded in the top of the second with an RBI single from Amyah Boostedt.
SUU’s Emily Delgado and Seattle’s Berkley Vance dominated over the next three innings, allowing little traffic on the base paths and zero runs. In the top of the sixth, with runners on second and third, Kassidy Munoz hit a sacrifice fly to left field, breaking the tie.
Looking for a complete game, Delgado shut down the Redhawks in the bottom of the seventh, striking out Nicola Simpson, securing the 2-1 win for the T-Birds.
Game two
Fitch continued off where she left off, homering off of Keimon Winston, giving Seattle a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. After responding with a run in the top of the second, Seattle retook the lead off a groundout from Camryn Johnson.
Both pitchers settled in, not allowing any runs over the next three innings. In the top of the sixth, SUU loaded the bases with no outs. Taralyn Ollison hit a soft grounder to the pitcher, resulting in a run and tying the game up at two.
Two batters later, Laurie Cooke walked, scoring the go-ahead run. Tawnie Mozeris hit an RBI single in the top of the seventh, granting SUU the 4-2 lead. In the bottom of the seventh, Karen Spadafora hit a sacrifice fly, cutting the lead to one, but it wasn’t enough as SUU earned the 4-3 win.
Game three
Following the double-header win, the Thunderbirds were looking for a third win against the Redhawks to finish out the series.
Seattle was the first to score, at the bottom of the first inning. Fitch provided a great hit, resulting in the afternoon’s first run. Neither team scored again until the bottom of the third inning, bringing Seattle up two-nothing.
Shortly after the second run, all bases were loaded when Seattle’s Avari Morris hit a grand slam, bringing the Redhawks up 6-0. Southern Utah was finally able to score at the top of the fifth inning. Ollison’s hit a single through the right side, scoring Mozeris, cutting the lead to 6-1.
SUU continued to add on in the fifth inning off a hit from Michaella Salvatierra, giving SUU its second run. Simpson responded with a run that brought the lead to 7-2 for the Redhawks. Shortly after, SUU’s Arianna Ramirez gave a hit that got the Thunderbirds to three.
Despite the Thunderbird offense’s great effort, they couldn’t hold off the Redhawks, and the game ended 7-3 after seven innings.
What’s next?
Southern Utah is hosting the University of Texas at Arlington, starting with a double-header game on Saturday, April 26 at 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. The series finale will be on Sunday, Apr. 27, at noon. All games will be played at the Kathryn Berg Field and can also be streamed on ESPN+.
Author: Jack Paul, Lexie Nelson
Photographer: SUU Athletics
Editor: Jack Paul, Chevy Blackburn
