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Utah Softball Tops SDSU, Clinches Spot in Women’s College World Series

by Utah Athletics
May 28, 2023

SALT LAKE CITY – For the first time since 1994, the University of Utah softball team is heading to the Women's College World Series, securing their spot in Oklahoma City with a 7-2 win over the San Diego State Aztecs on Sunday at the Dumke Family Softball Stadium to take the Salt Lake City Super Regional, two games to one.
 
This will be Utah's first trip to the WCWS since 1994, their sixth overall and it also goes down as the program's first-ever win in a super-regional series. The Utes are also 42-14 in 2023, their highest win total since 2000 and only the fifth time they've ever piled up that many victories.

 
The Utes will face the Washington Huskies in their College World Series opener on Thursday. The game's first pitch will be thrown at 7:30 p.m. MT.
 
"I love to see 11 hits," said head coach Amy Hogue. "That was the name of the game. It was really important that we get run support for Mariah since they'd seen her so many innings. It was really important to get a big number up early and we got a big number up early. After that, we never looked back. I'm really proud of this team."
 
The Aztecs were the first team to get on the scoreboard, using a double and a Utah error to scratch out a second-inning run, but the Utes were quick to respond in the bottom of the inning. A Sophie Jacquez single followed by a sacrifice brought up Abby Dayton, who laced line drive into left for an RBI triple. After another hit and an out, an error by the Aztecs plated two Utah runners to make the score 3-1 and Aliya Belarde tacked on one more with an RBI single to right to increase the home team's lead to three.
 
SDSU climbed to within two in the fourth on a run-scoring knock off the bat of Jade Ignacio, but it would be the Aztecs' final run off starter Mariah Lopez. The junior left-hander permitted only one earned run over five innings and also struck out six while giving up only four hits.
 
An insurance run crossed the plate for Utah in the fifth thanks to an SDSU error and the Utes then turned the pitching chore over to Sarah Ladd for the final six outs. Ladd permitted one single in the sixth and two hits in the seventh, but she induced a ground ball to third for a fielder's choice that secured Utah's spot in the Women's College World Series.

 

"It's been too long," said Hogue, "but we've been building and doing all the things to get there. You can't take what we just did for granted. It's incredibly hard and I just talked to my former coach, who led us there and she said to enjoy every minute of it."
 
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Fans can follow along on social media (Twitter: @Utah_Softball |Instagram: @utahsoftball | Facebook: Facebook.com/Utessoftball).

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