CEDAR CITY, Utah - The Southern Utah softball team will compete in the Grand Canyon Invitational this weekend starting on March 19 and running through March 21. The tournament will be hosted by Grand Canyon University and the Thunderbirds will play games against New Mexico State and the host Lopes.
Last Time Out
The Thunderbirds were supposed to compete in a tournament hosted by Dixie State last weekend with games against Weber State, Boise State, and the Trailblazers, but due to weather conditions in St. George, they only played a doubleheader against the Trailblazers on Sunday.
They dropped both games by a slim margin, losing the first one 9-11 and the second 7-8 on a walk-off single by Dixie State.
Josey White went 5-for-8 (.625) hitting three doubles, one home run, racking up seven RBI, and scoring one run over the two games against the Trailblazers. Gianna Carosone and Makall Whetten also had good days at the plate as Carosone went 5-for-7 with a home run and two RBI and Whetten went 3-for-6 with a home run and three runs scored.
Big Sky Player of the Week
The Big Sky Conference named White Softball Player of the Week after her performance in the doubleheader against Dixie State last weekend.
White currently leads the Big Sky in batting average (.473), hits (26), home runs (8), doubles (20), RBI (28), slugging percentage (1.036), and total bases (57).
Her incredible performance at the plate also has her ranked among the best in the entire nation, coming in at 11th in RBI, 16th in total bases, 18th in home runs, 28th in slugging percentage, 42nd in hits, and 45th in batting average.
Tournament Preview
The Aggies will come into the weekend with a 9-12 record so far this season. They dropped a doubleheader with the University of South Florida last week, ending a six-game winning streak. Four of their last seven games have gone into extra innings with their last game ending in the 12th inning.
Matalasi Faapito leads New Mexico State offensively, hitting .407 in 59 at-bats with six home runs and 12 RBI. She has also made 13 appearances in the circle for the Aggies, compiling a 3.40 ERA and 28 strikeouts.
The Lopes come into the weekend with a 9-13 record, but are currently on a four-game slide. Five of their last seven games have been against Northern Illinois. They took the first three before losing the last two, all at home in Phoenix.
Gianna Nicoletti leads GCU at the plate, hitting .420 in 69 at-bats with seven RBI and 15 stolen bases. Senior Ryan Denhart has made 12 appearances in the circle for the Lopes, putting together a 3.39 ERA and compiling 26 strikeouts. She is the older sister of Thunderbird freshman Tyler Denhart.
Game Day Information
The Thunderbirds will play two games on Friday, starting with New Mexico State at 2:30 p.m. and wrapping up with Grand Canyon at 7:00 p.m. Saturday will have the same lineup for the T-Birds with New Mexico State at 12:00 p.m. and Grand Canyon at 5:00 p.m. They will wrap up the tournament on Sunday with a game against Grand Canyon at 12:00 p.m.
Live stats for all games can be found at tbirdstats.com and the three games against GCU will be streamed live at gculopes.com/watch.
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.
