Utah Softball Set to Defend Pac-12 Tournament Title

SALT LAKE CITY – One year after beginning their magical postseason run with three straight victories that culminated in the first-ever Pac-12 Tournament Championship, the University of Utah softball team is preparing to return to the conference tournament, which for them will begin with a matchup against the 22nd-ranked and third-seeded Oregon Ducks on Thursday at 10 a.m. PT (11 a.m. MT) at Boyd and Jill Family Stadium in Stanford, Calif.
 
The tournament will begin with Oregon State and Arizona State squaring off on Wednesday evening, followed by four games on Thursday, starting with the Utes and Ducks. The semifinals are scheduled for Thursday starting at 4:30 p.m. PT and the tournament final will be held on Saturday with a first pitch time of 7 p.m. PT.
 
Pac-12 Tournament Schedule

 
How to Follow
Utah's first game in Stanford will be broadcast on the Pac-12 family of networks, as well as on Pac-12 Now, while the tournament semifinals and championship game will all be carried by ESPN2.
 
Last Time Out
The Utes spent the final weekend of the regular season making their case for a spot in the NCAA Tournament and they did by taking both of their matchups against the No. 9 Washington Huskies. Utah eked out a pair of one-run victories, pushing the squad's total number of wins over ranked opponents in 2024 to six. Coach Amy Hogue's team has also won 11 of its last 13.
 
Both of Utah's victories against the Huskies were earned by Mariah Lopez, who's now racked up 21 victories during her senior year. This comes one year after she finished with 23 wins, making her the first Ute since Generra Nielson in 2011 and 2012 to post back-to-back 20-win campaigns. Lopez's 2024 win total is also tied for the most in Pac-12 with Arizona's and she can claim spots in the top five in ERA and strikeouts.
 
Abby Dayton finished the regular season with a .444 batting average, making her the first Ute to win the Pac-12 Regular Season Batting Champion since Hannah Flippen in 2017. Dayton's clip is also the highest by a Utah hitter since Amy Hogue hit .455 in 1994 and her .523 on-base percentage and six triples also put her atop the conference leaderboard. Dayton's average combines with Haley Denning's .418 mark to give the Utes two .400 in one year for the first time since 2017.
 
The hottest hitter for the Utes during their run of 11 victories in 13 tries was shortstop Shonty Passi, who hit .487 with a .769 slugging percentage during that stretch. Those numbers also include the first two home runs of her collegiate career, the first of which came in an April 24 win over Baylor, followed by another four-bagger on April 28 against Oregon State.
 
Scouting the Opposition
Coach Melyssa Lombardi's squad earned the Pac-12 Tournament's No. 3 seed by compiling a 28-18 record that includes a 13-10 conference mark. The most impressive achievements on their 2024 resume include series victories over California and Washington and they closed the regular season by pulling out a 1-0 triumph over No. 6 Stanford. The Ducks will soon hear their name called in the NCAA Tournament field for the fourth straight time and 24th time overall in school history.
 
The list of players who've helped Oregon put together a tournament-worthy season include Kai Luschar, whose .425 average trails only Abby Dayton in the league rankings, and Ariel Carlson, who is among the players tied for the lead in the Pac-12 in homers with 15. Carlson has also contributed 17 stolen bases to Oregon's total of 84, 17 more than any other team in the Pac-12.
 
The Ducks exacted a measure of revenge for a Utah sweep in Eugene in 2023 by taking two of three in Salt Lake City in March. The Utes performance against Oregon a season ago included a Mariah Lopez no-hitter in the series finale and Lopez was later named Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week. Overall, the Ducks own a 39-17 advantage in the all-time series.
 
2024 Team Stat Leaders (as of 5/6/2024)

National Rankings

• Abby Dayton's Pac-12 best batting average of .444 also has her 10th in the nation and she's tied for 12th in triples, 19th in on-base percentage and 39th in hits.
• Mariah Lopez's 201 strikeouts put her 11th in the country and she's sharing 14th in wins with 21. She's also thrown the fourth-most innings in Division I, owns fifth-place in total starts and is tied for 37th in complete games.
• Haley Denning has piled up 71 total hits in 2024, tied for 20th in the country.
• Utah's .310 batting average puts them 32nd nationally and they're tied for 17th in double plays turned per game at 0.51.

 
Pac-12 Rankings

• Abby Dayton's incredible 2024 season has included taking home the Pac-12 Regular Season Batting Crown, but she also leads the league in on-base percentage, at .522 and triples, with 6. Her 67 hits rank fourth, her 25 walks are tied for fourth and her 96 total bases place her sixth.
• Mariah Lopez has moved into a tie for first place in the conference in wins with 21 and she owns the fourth-best ERA at 2.27. Her 16 complete games and 191 innings pitched are both league-bests.
• Haley Denning has crossed home plate 45 times in 2024, tied for the most in the league and her 71 hits have her in second place in that statistic, as do her 22 steals. Her .418 batting average ranks fourth-best.
• One of the players Denning is tied with for tops in the Pac-12 in runs scored is Belarde, who also has 45. Her four triples are tied for second in the conference and she's fourth in sacrifice flies with four. Belarde has also recorded 57 hits, which rank 10th.
• Kaylah Nelsen's peppered the outfield walls in the Pac-12 to the tune of 15 doubles, second-most in the league and she also ranks sixth in hits, with 62, eighth in batting average, at .378, and 10th in RBIs, with 37.
• Julia Jimenez has driven in 40 runs for the Utes in 2024, tied for the conference's fifth-highest total and her 25 walks have her sharing fourth.

 
Seven Utes Named All-Pac-12
Utah's list of all-league honorees was led by Abby Dayton, Haley Denning and Mariah Lopez, all of whom were chosen for the All-Pac-12 First-Team. This makes back-to-back seasons in which Dayton and Lopez landed on the first-team, the first time the Utes have had multiple players make consecutive first-team appearances since they joined the conference in 2012. Dayton is also the first Utah player ever to be picked for the league's first-team as a freshman and sophomore.
 
For Denning, this is the fourth consecutive year she's been recognized by the Pac-12, making her just the fifth Ute in school history to achieve all-conference recognition four times. She was also rewarded with a place on the Pac-12's All-Defensive Team.
 
Representing the Utes on the all-conference second-team were Kaylah Nelsen and Aliya Belarde, while Shonty Passi and Reese Lee were among the selections for Pac-12's All-Freshman Team. This marks the first time since 2017 the program has had multiple rookies chosen for the all-freshman roster.             
 
Dayton Takes Home the Title
Abby Dayton became the first Ute since Hannah Flippen in 2017 to win the Pac-12 Regular Season Batting Title when she finished the regular year with a mark of .444. Dayton's average is currently the highest by a Ute since current head coach Amy Hogue set a program record that still stands by batting .455 in 1994.
 
Always On-Base
Kaylah Nelsen is in the midst of a 24-game on-base streak that dates back to March 20. This is the second such streak of over 20 games by a Ute in 2024, as Abby Dayton compiled a 33-game on-base streak earlier in the year that stretched from March 23 to April 14. The Utes are one of only two teams in the nation to have two players who've compiled on-base streaks of at least 20 games.
 
20/20
One year after piling up 23 wins, the most by a Utah pitcher since Kristin Arbogast won 28 in 2001, Mariah Lopez has again reached the 20-win plateau. Lopez is the first Utah pitcher since Generra Nielson in 2011 and 2012 to post back-to-back 20-win campaigns.
 
Away from Home
In 33 games away from Dumke Family Softball Stadium, no one has a higher batting average than Haley Denning's mark of .443 and Julia Jimenez has hit four of her five homers and driven in 31 of her 40 RBIs in away or neutral site games in 2024. All eight of Sarah Ladd's 2024 victories have also occurred away from home.
 
Leadoff Utes
Utah's leadoff hitters have excelled so far in 2024, reaching base at a clip of over .400. Abby Dayton and Kaylah Nelsen have been the best at getting on base to start a frame, with Dayton reaching 20 times in 32 attempts (.625), while Nelsen has gotten on 18 times in 29 tries (.621).
 
Passi Joins the Player of the Week Club
Shonty Passi earned the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week award on April 29, meaning a Ute has reeled in each of the Pac-12's weekly awards. Aliya Belarde was named the league's player of the week on April 8 and Mariah Lopez took home pitcher of the week honors seven days later. This is the second straight season the Utes have won all three of these awards.
 
Denning Milestones
Haley Denning has spent the season chasing down one milestone after another, starting on March 3, when she logged the 264th hit of her career, passing Hannah Flippen to become the program's all-time hits leader. On April 21, she achieved two milestones, smacking a first-inning triple to become the first Ute to ever reach 300 hits and two innings later, she crossed home plate for the 198th time in her career, making her the program's all-time leader in runs scored.
 
Denning still has a chance to break the program's all-time record for career steals, which stands at 130. Denning enters the postseason with 122 stolen bases.
 
First Home Runs
Six players have connected for their first Utah home runs so far in 2024, starting with Leilani Melendez's blast on Feb. 23. Haley Denning smacked her first long ball on Feb. 24 against Wisconsin and Abby Dayton performed that feat a day later in a win over Nebraska. Taylor Jacobs homered for her first career his on Feb. 22 against Arizona and Kaylah Nelsen's four-bagger on April 21 against Idaho State counted for her first since joined the Utes. The most recent player to accomplish this feat was Shonty Passi on April 24 against Baylor
 
Mariah Joins the 500 strikeout Club
During her start on April 12 against Arizona State, Mariah Lopez collected the 500th strikeout of her career, making her only the fourth Ute to ever reach that total. She joined a group that includes former Utes Ali Sagas, Kristin Arbogast and Katie Donovan.
 
21 Straight Outs for No. 21
On March 3, Sarah Ladd threw just the fourth seven-inning perfect game in Utah history by retiring all 21 Utah Tech hitters she faced in a 5-0 victory. Ladd is the first Utah pitcher to accomplish that feat since Ali Andrus-Sagas in 1995 and the first Ute to throw a perfect game of any type since Miranda Viramontes in 2017. Overall, it goes down as the ninth perfecto in school history.
 
Mariah Lopez Sets a New Career-High
On Monday, Mariah Lopez racked up 15 strikeouts in a complete game win over Utah Tech, setting a new career-high high. She struck out the side twice in that appearance and fell only a single punchout short of matching the program record.
 
Preseason Placements
The Pac-12 released its annual preseason softball coaches poll and preseason all-conference team on Feb. 1 and Aliya Belarde, Haley Denning, Julia Jimenez and Mariah Lopez all earned all-conference nods, while the Utes were rated third in the league poll.
 
The Utes' placement in the preseason rankings represents their highest since joining the league, surpassing the fifth-place standing they achieved in 2017 and 2018, and the four preseason all-league honorees doubles the number the program attained in 2023.
 
Lopez Makes the Watch List
University of Utah softball's senior pitcher Mariah Lopez earned a spot on the USA Softball Player of the Year Top 50 Watch List, which was released on Jan. 24. Lopez is the first Ute to earn this distinction since Alyssa Barrera a was a player of the year watch list selection in 2018.
 
Senior Class
The 2024 season will be the last one in a Utah uniform for the program's eight-person senior class of Aliya Belarde, Stella Bennett, Haley Denning, Chloe Doyle, Sophie Jacquez, Julia Jimenez, Sarah Ladd and Mariah Lopez.
 
Five of those eight student-athletes have achieved all-conference status and both Denning and Jimenez can claim All-Pac-12 honors in multiple seasons.
 
Coaching Staff Additions
Two new faces have joined head coach Amy Hogue's staff for the 2024 campaign. Courtney Martinez comes to Utah from Iowa State and Kaija Gibson has donned Utah colors after spending two years with UCF.
 
Martinez spent six seasons with the Cyclones, helping the squad reset the program record for homers in a season three times and pile up 37 wins in 2019, the second-highest total in school history. She also helped tutor 2021 First-Team All-American Sami Williams.
 
Gibson, who not long ago was playing against the Utes with Washington, was part of two Golden Knights teams that won the AAC Tournament Championship to earn spots in the NCAA Tournament. In 2022, UCF rolled up 49 wins and Gibson and her colleagues were named the AAC Coaching Staff of the Year and the NFCA Midwest Region Coaching Staff of the Year.
 
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