CEDAR CITY, Utah - The Southern Utah softball team will open Big Sky Conference play this weekend in Sacramento, California with a three-game series against the Sacramento State Hornets. The series will open with a doubleheader on Friday March 22 and the series finale on Saturday March 23.
Last Time Out
The Thunderbirds played six games in California last week, picking up a win over Northern Kentucky on Saturday 4-3 in eight innings.
Hannah Williams was the hero in the win, hitting the go-ahead home run in the top of the eighth to give the Thunderbirds a 4-2 lead. Madison Tuft and Mikelle Magalogo both had two hits in the win as well.
Tuft, Magalogo, and Dream Weaver are all hitting over .300 so far this season for Southern Utah, with Tuft at .371, Weaver at .362, and Magalogo at .341. Tuft's batting average is good enough for third in the Big Sky and Weaver's is the fifth-highest in the conference.
As a team, the Thunderbirds have the fourth highest batting average, coming in at .258.
Scouting Report: Sacramento State Hornets (15-12)
The reigning Big Sky champions are coming off of a 2018 season in which they won both the regular season and tournament crowns and made their first appearance in a NCAA Regional tournament since 2008.
This season they have already won 15 games, including four of their last five in the Capital Classic last weekend. They are the only team in the Big Sky to have a overall record of .500 or better at this point in the season.
The Hornets lead the Big Sky in pitching with a team ERA of 2.69 and are third in the conference in batting with a team average of .265. They have the top three pitchers in the Big Sky in Savanna Corr, Danielle Sperry, and Jensen Main. Corr has the lowest ERA in the conference a 1.97and also has the most strikeouts with 76.
Nene Alas leads the team in batting with a .354 average in 82 at-bats.
The Hornets swept the Thunderbirds in last season's series, winning all three games by a margin of one run.
Game Info
Friday's doubleheader is set to start at 1:00 p.m. Mountain time (12:00 p.m. Pacific) at Shea Stadium. Saturday's series finale will also start at 1:00 p.m.
A live stream of the game can be found on PlutoTV channel 233 and live stats will be available at tbirdstats.com.
Follow Us
Stay up to date throughout the 2019 Thunderbird softball season by following @SUUSoftball on Twitter and Instagram and liking the Southern Utah Softball page on Facebook.
