RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- The Thunderbird softball team wrapped up their non-conference tournament slate on Sunday afternoon, closing out a successful weekend that featured three victories and a third win this season against a Power 5 Conference opponent.  

The T-Birds are now 5-14 on the season. They are just one victory short of matching their total win number from the 2019 season. 

Southern Utah 10, CSU Bakersfield 9

In what was the second matchup of the weekend against the Roadrunners, the Thunderbirds put together a huge comeback win after trailing big early.

CSUB scored seven times over the first four innings to build a 7-2 lead. The T-Birds early runs came in the third on a RBI from Skyler Ball and in the fourth as Dream Weaver knocked in Mikelle Magalogo.

Down 9-2 in the bottom of the sixth, the Thunderbirds put together a six-run inning in which they batted around and Brooke Brown hit a RBI triple and Makall Whetten hit a RBI double.

Grace Owen pitched a scoreless top of the seventh to keep the Thunderbirds down by just one run and give them the chance to walk it off in their final three outs.

With two outs already in the inning, Weaver hit a double and Michelle Andersen, who pinch-ran for Weaver, advanced to third on a wild pitch. Hannah Pace tied the game with a RBI double that scored Andersen and Skyler Ball hit a walk off single that scored Pace from second and gave the T-Birds the 10-9 win.

Owen got the win in the circle after pitching 3.1 innings and giving up just one earned run. Pace went 3-for-4 in the game with a RBI and three runs scored.

Southern Utah 15, Michigan State 9 

For the third time this season the Thunderbirds knocked off an opponent from a Power 5 Conference, as they defeated the Michigan State Spartans out of the Big Ten on Saturday afternoon. 

It took a strong push late, as the T-Birds scored seven runs in the top of the sixth, and six more runs in the top of the seventh to blow past the Spartans.

In the seventh, Makall Whetten and Mikelle Magalogo both knocked home runs out of the park to secure the contest for SUU. 

The result joined SUU's victories over Oregon State and Wisconsin as victories over Power 5 opponents. 

Magalogo finished the game with five RBI, while Whetten had four. Dayna Hokansen had three RBI for SUU. 

Southern Utah 8, CSU Bakersfield 4

The T-Birds got things started on the right foot in Riverside, knocking off the Roadrunners in their first game of the event on Friday. 

Southern Utah struck first in the second inning, before adding three runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth. They capped off the contest in the seventh inning with another pair of runs to secure an 8-4 victory. 

Designated hitter Hannah Pace finished the game with three RBI, with both Brooke Brown and Dream Weaver finishing the contest with two RBI. Brown also had three hits in the contest. 

Magalogo was the lone T-Bird to cross home plate more than once, with two runs to her credit. 

Koryne Coddington was given the win for the T-Birds in the circle, only allowing four hits and two runs. In four innings she had three strikeouts. 

Other Results

The T-Birds suffered two losses over the course of the weekend. 

On Saturday evening they were bested by California Baptist 5-2, along with UC Riverside in the final contest of the event by a final score of 9-8 in nine innings.

Next Up

The Thunderbirds will now turn their attention to Big Sky Conference play, where they'll travel to Greeley, Colorado, to play a three-game series against the Northern Colorado Bears. Those games will be played from March 20-21.  

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