Las Vegas, Nev. , March 7 - Southern Utah banged out 14 hits, including a two-run Darleen Fernandez home run that cleared the left field scoreboard to close the Eller Media Stadium softball tournament with a win over Weber State Sunday, 11-3.

            Weber State took a 1-0 lead on an unearned run in the top of the first but SUU answered with two in the bottom of the frame, picking up runs when Norian James scored from second base on a wild pitch and on a Brittany Henderson sacrifice fly that drove in Ariel Morbeck.

            WSU knotted the game in the top of the second on an RBI double by Heather Jackson but the Thunderbirds again had an answer, plating three in the bottom of the inning as Stephanie DeJesus, Norian James and Henderson all drove in runs.

            Weber pulled to within 5-3 in the top of the third on a solo home run by Britinie Jardine, but that would be the end of the Wildcat scoring.

            SUU added three more in the third, two on Fernandez' home run and another when James plated DeJesus with a double.

            SUU added two in the fourth on RBI singles by Whitnie Griffith and Nicole Huntsman, then ended it in the fifth when Aly Daniels doubled to drive in Henderson and invoke the mercy rule.

            Bubba Kearns (2-6) picked up the win for the Thunderbirds in relilef of Kristina Brooks, while Angela DeVries (0-3) took the loss for Weber State.

            SUU, which notched its second win over Weber State in as many games, improved to 3-12 on the season while WSU dipped to 0-15.

            "We played much better last night and today, we seemed to have more energy and were much looser," SUU Coach Julie Strand said. "Now we need to build on this heading into a couple of games back here against UNLV on Wednesday and next weekend when we host South Dakota State to open our conference season."

-- SUU --