CEDAR CITY, Utah - The Southern Utah softball team will be back in action this weekend, competing in a tournament hosted by Dixie State from March 12-14. They will compete against Boise State University, Weber State University, and the host Trailblazers.
Last Time Out
The last time the Thunderbirds were on the field they took two out of three games in a series against Utah Valley. They lost the first game of the series before sweeping the Wolverines in a doubleheader.
Southern Utah hit .333 in the series with six home runs and seven doubles. They scored 33 runs total.
Kalena Shepherd went 5-for-6 on the weekend with two home runs and seven RBI. Dayna Hokanson went 6-for-12 with seven RBI and five runs scored. Grace Owen pitched 7.2 innings in the circle and gave up just four earned runs while striking out 13 Wolverines.
Climbing the Rankings
Josey White continues to be an offensive force for the T-Birds and it shows in the conference and national rankings.
White currently leads the Big Sky in hits, home runs, RBI, slugging percentage, and total bases. In the entire NCAA, she is ranked fifth in home runs with seven, fifth in RBI with 21, sixth in total bases with 46, 11th in hits with 21, and 52nd in slugging percentage with a .979.
The Thunderbirds as a team lead the Big Sky in home runs per game (1.40/game) and slugging percentage (.508).
Tournament Preview
The Trailblazers are coming off of a three-game sweep of UC Riverside. They outscored the Highlanders by a combined score of 28-7, shutting them out in game two. Dixie State is currently 8-10 and have won seven of their last eight games. The Thunderbirds and Trailblazers have already played two games this season with Dixie State winning 5-4 in Las Vegas and the T-Birds winning 12-6 in St. George.
The Broncos competed in a tournament hosted by the Oregon Ducks last weekend where they split the four games they played. They beat Portland State twice, but fell to the No. 6 ranked Ducks twice. Boise State is currently 5-9, but have lost six of their last nine games. Head coach Maggie Huffaker is in her third season at the helm of the program.
The Wildcats last played two weeks ago in a tournament also hosted by Dixie State where they beat Northern Colorado, split two games with the Trailblazers, and lost to Utah State. They come into the week with a 6-8 record and have won three of their last five. Weber State has won the last five matchups against the Thunderbirds, with Southern Utah's last win coming in 2018.
Game Day Information
The Thunderbirds will open the tournament on Friday with a game against Dixie State at 1:30 p.m.
On Saturday the T-Birds will face off against Boise State at 11:00 a.m. and Weber State at 1:30 p.m. in a non-Big Sky matchup.
They will wrap up play in the tournament on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. against the host Trailblazers.
All games will be streamed live with the games against Dixie State being on WAC Digital Network and the neutral site games being streamed on Dixie State University Athletics' YouTube page.
Live scoring for all games can be found at dixiestateathletics.com.
Follow Us
Stay up to date during the 2021 Thunderbird Softball season by following @SUUSoftball on Twitter and Instagram and liking the Southern Utah Softball page on Facebook.
