TEMPE, Arizona — Southern Utah Softball finished the Sun Devil Classic with an incredible back-and-forth battle against a Michigan squad that received votes in the last top 25 poll. The Thunderbirds fell in extra innings to Michigan, 5-3, and wrapped up the tough weekend tournament 2-3. Southern Utah now sits at 7-9 on the season, having faced some very good competition.
Freshman McKenzy Becerra led the T-Birds at the plate, going 2-4 with a home run and two RBIs. Arianna Ramirez also picked up two hits on the day, while Michaella Salvatierra added a critical RBI single. Both Hannah Duncan and Riley Nielson pitched five innings for the Thunderbirds. The pair combined for four strikeouts in the game against a powerful Michigan offense.
Coach Don Don Williams Said
"That is a tough loss to swallow. We had several opportunities to win the game and did not execute. We will take it as a learning opportunity and get back to work this week."
Game Summary
The Thunderbirds and Wolverines battled through three scoreless innings, with dominant pitching and defense on both sides. Michigan finally broke through in the top of the fourth inning with an RBI single to take a 1-0 lead.
The Wolverines extended the lead to 2-0 at the top of the sixth inning with a sacrifice fly. That would be the beginning of the drama, however, as the Thunderbirds would answer in the bottom of the sixth inning with a towering two-run home run by Freshman McKenzy Becerra.
Neither team was able to push a run across in the seventh inning, and so the game proceeded to extra innings.
Using the international tiebreaker, each team would start the inning with a runner on second base. And despite both teams advancing the runners to third, neither would score in the eighth inning.
In the top of the ninth inning, the Wolverines used a bunt and a sacrifice fly to take the 3-2 lead. In the bottom half of the inning, the Thunderbirds would respond when Michaella Salvatierra singled up the middle to knot the game up at 3-3.
The game pushed into the 10th inning, where Michigan broke the deadlock with a clutch double followed by a sacrifice fly, plating two runs to take a 5–3 lead. For the first time all day, the Thunderbirds couldn't respond, and the game went final at 5–3.
On Deck
The Thunderbirds are set to compete close to home next with a co-hosted tournament between Southern Utah and Utah Tech. The T-Birds will play Thursday-Saturday of this week in St. George at 10:00 a.m. MT each day, squaring off with Utah on Thursday and Saturday and taking on Utah State on Friday. Live stats are available through the schedule link on suutbirds.com.
Home Opener
The Thunderbirds will open the new Katherine Berg Field on Sunday, March 1, with a ribbon cutting at 11:45 a.m. MT. Southern Utah will then take on Weber State in a doubleheader to wrap up the weekend of competition. Those games will be streamed on ESPN+, and live stats are available through the schedule link on suutbirds.com.
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