CEDAR CITY, Utah. - Kathryn Berg Field featured an amazing set of performances by the Thunderbirds as SUU Softball secured the second seed in the Big Sky Conference tournament with a 7-5 victory against Sacramento State during Senior Day..

Southern Utah completed its conference record at 10-8 to clinch sole possession of second place this year and the second seed heading to Weber State for the conference tournament this weekend.  

Brooke Brown made history with a record-setting performance during her final appearance in Cedar City as part of a key first frame for the T-Birds.

Brown's first-inning big fly broke the SUU single-season home run record as it was Brown's 16th dinger of the season. Brown came into today tied with Lindi Kennedy's 2007 mark of 15, then made the standard her own with a shot to centerfield. 

Josey White also moved up the home run charts with her 13th home run of the year as she joined Brown with a first-inning moon shot of her own as SUU jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the first.

Brown's two RBI also made her just the sixth Thunderbird in history to join the 50-RBI club in a single season.

With SUU up 4-1 heading into the third, Reilly Williams connected on a sacrifice fly to left field to bring home MacKenzie Whitten for a 5-1 lead.

The T-Birds tacked on a pair of key insurance runs in the bottom of the fourth to take a 7-1 lead.  Gianne Carosone snuck a double down the leftfield line to plate Kalena Shepherd and Brown in the process.  That double proved to be the difference as Sacramento State staged a comeback in the top of the sixth with four runs crossing the plate.

Carosone had an amazing game at the plate with a pair of doubles today.  Makall Whetten also claimed a double, while picking up her third stolen base of the season. 

Payton Goodrich collected her seventh win of the season to improve to 7-10 this year.  She pitched 5.1 innings with three strikeouts, five flyouts and seven groundouts. Goodrich was dominant through five innings giving up just one run off two hits before Sacramento State caught up to her in the top of the sixth.  

Tyler Denhart secured her third save of the campaign with 1.2 scoreless innings pitched that included a strikeout and a trio of groundouts. 

Senior Day Festivities

SUU Athletics made sure 2021 Senior Day was a memorable one for softball.  Reilly Williams, daughter of head coach Don Don Williams, opened up the day with a phenomenal singing of the National Anthem.

SUU Athletics Director Debbie Corum then delivered the game ball in style with a drop from SUU Aviation's helicopter prior to the start of the contest. 

Ball Drop at the Berg. Special Day 🤩#StormTheSky @DebCorum @SUU_Aviation pic.twitter.com/GfVasXItFK

— SUU Softball (@SUUSoftball) May 8, 2021

Next Up

Southern Utah heads to Ogden, Utah May 13-15 for the Big Sky Conference Championship Tournament. 

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