CEDAR CITY, Utah. - The Southern Utah softball squad unleashed one of its best games of the season at its home-opener at Kathryn Berg Field in Cedar City, run-ruling Dixie State, 12-4.
Dixie State opened scoring in the top of the first with a pair of runs to take a 2-0 lead, but the T-Birds went to work in the batter's box in a big way the rest of the game.
SUU cut the advantage to 2-1 in the bottom of the first when Makall Whetten went yard with a leadoff home run over the right field fence.
The T-Birds followed in the bottom of the second stanza with a nine-spot to take a 10-2 lead. Southern Utah took advantage of a pair of errors by DSU as well as wild pitching from the Trailblazers.
Kalena Shepherd scored when Mikelle Magalogo reached on an error to tie the game 2-2. Whetten, fresh off her home run in the first, loaded the bases by being hit by a pitch. Dayna Hokanson then picked up an RBI with another hit-by-pitch to take a 3-2 lead.
Josey White demonstrated patience at the plate, drawing a bases-loaded walk to plate Magalogo and push the lead to 4-2.
Brooke Brown continued her recent hot streak with a bases-clearing double to right center that gave her 3 more RBI on the season for a 7-2 advantage that chased DSU's pitcher.
Another DSU error brought home Gianna Carosone and Brown as Reilly Williams reached on the DSU miscue, extending the SUU lead to 9-2.
Magalogo closed out scoring in the frame with a double to right center to plate Williams for a 10-2 lead.
Magalogo extended the lead for SUU to 11-2 in the bottom of the fourth with a sacrifice fly to center field that scored Carosone.
Dixie State prevented an immediate run-rule loss in the top of the fifth with a pair of runs to shave the difference to 11-4. White, however, had a different plan in the bottom of the fifth with a double that scored Hokanson to complete the 12-4 run-rule conquest.
Both Brown and Magalogo closed the day with a trio of RBI each, while Williams and White each drove home a pair of runs.
Tyler Denhart, the reigning Big Sky Pitcher of the Week, captured her fourth win of the season with just two earned runs charged against her. She mowed down six Trailblazers with strikeouts while also inducing a trio of flyouts and five groundouts in 4.2 innings pitched.
Next up, Southern Utah opens Big Sky Conference play with a three-game set at Idaho State in Pocatello. The teams open with a doubleheader on April 2 at Noon MST before closing the series with a single contest on April 3 at Noon MST.
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