CEDAR CITY, Utah - The Southern Utah Softball team had its games canceled last weekend due to weather and the team is excited to get back out on the field this weekend. The T-Birds are at the Capitol City Classic, where they will square off with five different teams for six total games. Friday the Thunderbirds will face Saint Mary's College and the host team Sacramento State. On Saturday Southern Utah will take on Alabama State and Sienna College. Sunday's slate includes a second game with Saint Mary's and the final game of the weekend will be against UC Davis.
GAME INFORMATION
Southern Utah at Capitol City Classic
Friday, March 3, 2023 - Sunday, March 5, 2023
SUU vs. SMC: 11:30 a.m. MT Friday
SUU vs. Sac State: 1:30 p.m. MT Friday
SUU vs. ASU: 11:00 a.m. MT Saturday
SUU vs. SC: 4:00 p.m. MT Saturday
SUU vs. SMC: 11:00 a.m. MT Sunday
SUU vs. UCD: 1:30 p.m. MT Sunday
Stream: ESPN+ (Only for the Sac State Game)
Stats: suutbirds.com
HISTORY
The Thunderbirds have played against Saint Mary's three times previously. Saint Mary's has won each of those games coming out on top of the last matchup 13-6 in 2016. The T-Birds have played Sacramento State many times as they were a former Big Sky opponent. The Hornets hold a 19-13 edge in the series. This weekend will be the first-ever matchup for the Thunderbirds with both Siena College and Alabama State University. Southern Utah has only played UC Davis twice. The Thunderbirds will look to cut into the series with UC Daivs on the weekend.
SOUTHERN UTAH
The Thunderbirds will look to continue building this weekend. Sitting at 1-7 on the young season the Thunderbirds have scored 23 runs thus far. This is up from a year ago when the T-Birds only had just three runs in the first eight games.
Southern Utah has been led on offense by Freshman infielder Emily Gonzalez. Gonzalez has a .476 average through eight games with two doubles and a home run. She has demonstrated patience at the plate leading the team in walks. Junior shortstop Miranda Lopez has also made an impact since joining the team. Lopez has a.500 on-base percentage with a .375 batting average. Freshman outfielder Alayah Toscano swung the bat well against UC Santa Barbara last week picking up three hits in the final game of the series.
Redshirt senior pitcher Payton Goodrich leads the team's pitching staff with a 3.82 ERA. Early in the season, Goodrich has held opposing teams to a .244 batting average over three appearances. Sophomore pitcher Keimon Winston has started five games for the Thunderbirds and will see some more time in the circle this weekend. The T-Birds will have to use multiple pitchers with a five-game weekend.
SAINT MARY'S COLLEGE
Saint Mary's spent last weekend at the Silicon Valley Classic, playing five games at both San Jose State and Santa Clara. The tournament saw the Gaels' offense score just four runs on Friday and Sunday, but 14 runs on Saturday. The Gaels went without a win over five games, dropping a pair of games to Northern Colorado, San Jose State, and one slugfest with Sacramento State. Going back to the final game of the Saint Mary's Tournament, the Gaels have dropped their last six games after starting the year 4-4.
Saturday was the Gaels' best offensive day of the season, scoring seven runs in both games played down in San Jose. Against Sacramento State, the offense had the lead going into the bottom of the sixth inning before falling behind late in the game. Their offense fired up a bigger inning in the second game of the day, when they scored five runs in the third inning against San Jose State, thanks in part to a bases-clearing double from Angelina Franco. All those runs were not enough for the Gaels, who allowed 23 total runs in those games.
The T-Birds will get two chances at taking down the Gaels first, on Friday to open the Tournament, and then again on Sunday morning.
SACRAMENTO STATE
Winners of four of the last five games, Sacramento State (7-7) will co-host this week's Capital Classic with UC Davis. The Hornets completed last week's Silicon Valley Classic with a 4-1 record, and have now won five of their last seven after beginning the season with a 2-5 record. The Hornets trailed at one point during each of their four wins last week. In fact, of the team's seven wins, five have been comebacks. Of those five comebacks, Sacramento State trailed in the fifth inning or later in four of them.
Lewa Day brings a five-game hitting streak into the week. During the streak, she is batting .526 (10-for-19) with five runs, three doubles, a triple, homer, nine RBIs, a .947 slugging percentage, and 1.497 ops. She has also collected at least one RBI in five consecutive games. Marissa Bertuccio leads the Big Sky in ERA (2.57) and opponent batting average (.252). In 43.2 innings, she has a 4.3-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio (30 strikeouts, 7 walks). Bertuccio is the reigning Big Sky Pitcher of the Year.
True freshman catcher Katie Marsh went 4-for-4 with two runs, a double, a triple, and two RBIs in Sunday's win at Santa Clara. The four hits tied a Sacramento State Div. I era (1990-pres.) record for most hits in a game. It marked the 33rd time a Hornet has connected for four hits during the Div. I era. The Hornets are batting .254 as a team, but have upped that mark to .364 (36-for-99) with runners in scoring position. Of the team's 53 RBIs, 24 have come with two outs in an inning.
Southern Utah Will take on the Hornets on Friday.
SIENA COLLEGE
Siena Softball spent a jam-packed weekend of action at The Spring Games in Madeira Beach, Florida last weekend. The Saints pick up a win in the final game of the tournament on Monday, giving it three wins against national competition in its third weekend of action. The Saints are off to an 8-3 start for only the second time in school history.
Leading the team is sophomore outfielder Mckenzie Swinson, who has batted .458 on the season so far. Graduate student pitcher/outfielder Ava Fitzmaurice isn't far behind with a .400 Average at the plate and leads the team with a pair of home runs.
Fitzmaurice is getting it done in the circle as well for the Saints with a 1.75 ERA over 20 innings pitched. The next best arm for Siena is redshirt freshman Alissa Eimont and senior Nicole Patille who have ERAs of 2.49 and 2.58 respectively. Each of these two pitchers has contributed significant innings for the Saints this season.
The Thunderbirds will square off with Siena on Saturday Afternoon.
ALABAMA STATE
Alabama State has begun the season in an impressive fashion with an 11-4 record. The Hornets spent last weekend winning six out of seven games at the HBCU Celebration Classic. Alabama State picked up wins against South Carolina State, Southern University, and Tuskegee University while only dropping a 2-3 extra-inning game with Georgia State University.
The Hornets have been led at the plate by junior second baseman Jaeda Gardner and sophomore outfielder Alexia Denby, who are batting just above .350. Alabama State has done well at the plate so far this season with a team batting average of .325 and an on-base average of nearly .400. So far this season the Hornets have been aggressive on the base paths as well racking up an impressive 46 stolen bases.
The Hornets have two pitchers who have handled the majority of the workload so far in sophomore Ashley Pye and senior Bailey Greenlee. Each has pitched over 30 innings this season and Greenlee has an outstanding 0.95 ERA. The other top pitcher for Alamaba State is sophomore Olivia Brown who has posted a 1.65 ERA in 17 innings and has held opposing teams to just a .242 batting average.
Southern Utah will start the day Saturday with the Hornets at 11:00 a.m. MT.
UC DAVIS
The Aggies started the season very strong, winning five of their first six games in their own Nor Cal Kickoff tournament. The lone loss of the tournament came against a strong Rutgers team. In the second weekend of the season, UC Davis traveled to the Wilson Invitational where they would split a pair of games with the University of Louisana at Monroe and fall in the final contest against the University of California. The Aggies have racked up a 6-3 overall record thus far.
UC Davis is led at the plate by a pair of junior sluggers in Sarah Nakahara and Anna Dethlefson. The duo are both hitting .450 or above and have combined for seven RBIs. Dethlefson has the Aggies' lone home run on the season so far.
The main focus for the Aggies has been in the circle. UC Davis has three pitchers who have shut down opposing teams this season. Taylor Fitzgerald has pitched 21 innings so far this season and has an impressive 1.67 ERA. Kenedi Brown has a 1.72 ERA over 20.1 innings and leads the Aggies in strikeouts with 16. The other outstanding pitcher for UC Davis is Sarah Reineman who has posted a 1.68 ERA. In all the Aggies boast a 1.78 ERA from their pitching staff.
The Thunderbirds will confront the Aggies on their home turf Sunday Afternoon.
LAST TIME OUT- SUU vs UC SANTA BARBARA
In the weekend's final game, UC Santa Barbara jumped out to an early lead, picking up a run in the bottom of the second inning. Not to be outdone the T-Birds answered back the next half inning.
Redshirt senior infielder Josey White roped a single to move Toscano to third which set up a well-timed double steal call by coach Don Don Williams. The offensive play worked and Toscano came in to score the first run of the game for the Thunderbirds. One passed ball later and White was sitting on third when sophomore utility Sophia Masut drove her in with a single.
In the top of the fifth inning, the Thunderbirds caught another break when Toscano singled through the right side. Gonzalez stepped to the plate with a runner on and delivered a two-run blast.
The Thunderbirds pitching held UC Santa Barbara to just one run through the first five innings. In the bottom of the sixth, the Gauchos were able to string together four straight hits to score three runs and tie the game.
The game was still tied going into the bottom of the seventh. The Gauchos scored the walk-off when McNally doubled to score Fuentes and end the game.
Toscano led the Thunderbirds at the plate going 3-4 and scoring twice. White also had an impressive game winding up 2-4 in the designated player slot. The Thunderbirds racked up a team-high 10 hits in the game.
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