CEDAR CITY, Utah. The Southern Utah softball squad returns to Big Sky Conference play with a three-game series April 9-10 against Portland State in Cedar City, Utah.
Last Time Out
The Thunderbirds 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. Brown's shot to left field brought home Josey White and Dayna Hokanson. 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.
Payton Goodrich took the loss as all three pitchers competed in the circle. Tyler Denhart started with three innings pitched, giving up three runs and accounting for three flyouts and six groundouts. Goodrich pitched a pair of innings, while Grace Owen also entered the circle with an inning of action.
Big Sky Pitcher of the Week
Tyler Denhart was named Pitcher of the Week after her performance against Dixie State and Idaho State.
Denhart is the first Thunderbird pitcher to win the award multiple times in a season.
The freshman went 3-0 last week with a win against Dixie State and two wins against Idaho State. She had a 1.54 ERA, gave up just three earned runs, and struck out 10 batters in 13.2 innings of work.
She threw 4.2 innings of relief and earned the win in the circle in the Thunderbirds' 12-4 win against the Trailblazers, striking out six and giving up just one earned run.
Against the Bengals, Denhart pitched 4.0 innings in the 9-0 win on Friday and 5.0 innings with four strikeouts in their 6-4 win on Saturday.
Big Sky Stat Leaders
Josey White continues to lead the league in a number of categories including batting average (.424), slugging percentage (.848), on-base-percentage (.450), hits (39), RBI (35), doubles (9), home runs (10) and total bases (78).
Dayna Hokanson leads the league in run scored (29), while Makall Whetten is amongst the top five in slugging percentage (.709), home runs (9) and runs scored (25).
Tyler Denhart is in the top five in the conference in innings pitched (81.0), wins (6), appearances (24) and games started (17).
Weekend Preview
Portland State is 4-19 overall with a 1-5 record in Big Sky Conference play.
Marisa Bruno and Rachel Menlove lead the team offensively. Bruno sports a .363 batting average with a pair of home runs and triples as well as a trio of doubles with 15 RBI. Menlove, meanwhile, has a .349 batting average with five home runs, four doubles and 15 RBI as well.
Allicitie Frost has the best ERA on the team in the circle with a 3.72 ERA en route to a 1-4 record. Frost has 32 strikeouts in 37.2 innings pitched.
Game Day Information
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. 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.
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.
