ST. GEORGE, Utah. The Southern Utah Softball squad battled intra-state rival Utah in a gritty 7-5 loss in St. George.
Brooke Brown blasted her seventh home run of the season in the top of the first to put SUU up 3-0. Â Brown's shot to left field brought home Josey White and Dayna Hokanson. Â Hokanson reached on a Utah miscue, while White singled up the middle to set the table for Brown.
SUU's 3-0 lead did not survive, however, as the Utes chipped away with two in the bottom of the second and one in the bottom of the third to knot the game at 3-3.
The Utes stretched the lead to 6-3 in the bottom of the fourth before tacking on an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth to move to 7-3 heading into the top of the seventh.
The T-Birds nearly pulled off the two-out rally with a pair of runs in the seventh stanza.  Makall Whetten collected 2 RBI with a single up the middle to plate Paige Reynolds and  Danielle Vasquez.  Vasquez and Reynolds both reached based with two-out singles before Whetten brought them home.Â
Payton Goodrich took the loss as all three pitchers competed in the circle. Â Tyler Denhart started with three innings pitched, giving up three runs and accounting for three flyouts and six groundouts. Â Goodrich pitched a pair of innings, while Grace Owen also entered the circle with an inning of action.Â
Next up, the T-Birds return to Big Sky Conference action with a three-game set against Portland State at the friendly confines of Kathryn Berg Field in Cedar City. Â The Thunderbirds open on April 9 with a doubleheader at 2 p.m. MT, before closing the series with a game on April 10 at 11 a.m. MT.
All games will be on Pluto TV Channel 1055, while live stats will be at tbirdstats.com.Â
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