CEDAR CITY, Utah - The Southern Utah softball team is set to compete in the Big Sky Softball Championship Tournament this week in Ogden, Utah from May 13-15. The Thunderbirds will come into the tournament as the No. 2 seed, earning a first-round bye. This is also the highest seed they have ever been in the conference tournament.
Last Time Out
The Thunderbirds won their final regular season series last weekend, taking two out of three games from Sacramento State. They dropped the first game of a Friday doubleheader 1-11, but won the second game 11-8 and the series finale on Saturday 7-5.
The wins locked them into the second seed in the tournament after starting the weekend with the chance of being anywhere from No. 2 to No. 5.
Brooke Brown broke the single-season home run record in the series finale, hitting a two-run bomb in the first inning for her 16th home run of the season. Kalena Shepherd went 5-for-7 at the plate with two home runs, five runs scored, and three RBI.
Payton Goodrich picked up two wins in the circle, throwing 12.1 innings and striking out seven batters.
Top Newcomer of the Year
Brooke Brown was named the Big Sky Top Newcomer of the Year and All-Conference First Team earlier this week.
Brown, a transfer from Snow College, has hit 16 home runs so far this season, leading the Big Sky in the category and setting a new Southern Utah single-season home run record. She broke the previous record of 15 set by Lindi Kennedy in 2007. She also leads the Big Sky in slugging percentage (.782) and RBI (50).
The Thunderbird third baseman ranks second in the conference in total bases (104), fifth in hits (48), sixth in on-base percentage (.437), eighth in runs scored (32), and ninth in batting average (.361). Nationally, Brown ranks 17th in home runs and RBI and 42nd in slugging percentage.
All-Conference
Josey White and Tyler Denhart also earned All-Conference honors with White being named to the Second Team and Denhart being named an Honorable Mention.
White, a transfer from Minnesota, leads the conference in doubles (14), total bases (110) and hits (57). She is also second in RBI (45) and home runs (13), trailing only Brooke Brown, and third in batting average (.393) and slugging percentage (.774). If she can maintain that slugging percentage through the rest of the season, she will set a new Southern Utah single-season record.
Denhart pitched to the tune of a 5.75 ERA over 129.0 innings pitched this season. She is currently 8-13 with 47 strikeouts and three saves. During Big Sky play, the freshman was even better as she had a 4.25 ERA over 56.0 innings pitched, the seventh best number in the conference. She was named Big Sky Pitcher of the Week twice during the season, becoming the first Thunderbird to ever win the award twice and just the second to win it at all.
Tournament Preview
Six of the seven Big Sky teams that sponsor softball will be in Ogden to compete for the tournament championship. Weber State won the regular season championship (15-3) and will be the No. 1 seed throughout the tournament. Southern Utah (10-8) earned the No. 2 seed for the first time in program history. Both teams will have a bye in the round of games.
Sacramento State, Northern Colorado, Portland State, and Montana all finished 8-10 in Big Sky play, but with tiebreakers the Hornets earned the No. 3 seed, the Bears earned the No. 4 seed, the Vikings were awarded the No. 5 seed, and the Grizzlies were named the No. 6 seed.
Tournament Information
The tournament will begin on May 13 with games between the fourth and fifth seeds and the third and sixth seeds. The winner between No. 4 and No. 5 will play No. 1 Weber State and the winner between No. 3 and No. 6 will play No. 2 Southern Utah at 5:30 p.m.
All games will be streamed live on PlutoTV channel 1050 and WatchBigSky.com. Live stats will be available at bigskystats.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.
