April 6, 2009

Complete Release in PDF Format

Utes Take On In-State Rivals: The University of Utah softball team is looking forward to a busy week with five games scheduled against Utah State and BYU. Starting at home against Utah State Monday at 4 p.m. Utah then travels to Logan, Utah, for a doubleheader with the Aggies Tuesday at 2 p.m. Utah caps the week with a pair of Deseret First Duel games against BYU at Ute Softball Field. First pitch for the Friday, April 10 game is set for 4 p.m., while the game on Saturday, April 11 will start at 1 p.m.

The Utes enter the week's action on a three-game losing streak and are 13-21 overall and 0-2 in Mountain West Conference play.

Weekend Review: Utah started its MWC schedule last weekend with losses at New Mexico and Colorado State. In the first game Thursday, Utah could not fend off a seventh-inning rally by New Mexico in a 10-7 loss at Lobo Softball Field. On Friday, Utah once again jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, but could not avoid an 8-5 loss to Colorado State at Ram Field. For the second time in as many games, Utah got its offense started early with two runs in the top of the first inning. The Utes dropped to 11-5 when scoring the first run of a game.

Boardman Gives Utes a Boost: Angie Boardman (Spokane, Wash.) was arguably Utah's most consistent offensive threat its first two MWC games of the season at New Mexico and Colorado State, going 4-for-8 at the plate with two hits, a run scored, and an RBI in each game, highlighted by an RBI double and a home run.

The Spokane, Wash., native started early in the first game of the weekend Thursday at New Mexico as she connected for her fourth home run of the season over the left-field fence in the top of the second inning, which gave Utah a 2-0 advantage. Boardman was one of five Utes to have multiple hits Friday at Colorado State as she registered her second consecutive 2-for-4 performance, highlighted by an RBI single through the right side of the Ram defense in the top of the first inning to score Kara Foster (Derby, Kan.) for the first run of the game. Boardman is currently enjoying a four-game hit streak, her longest such stretch of the season.

New-found Power: A pair of Utes hit their first home runs of the season in the top of the fourth inning Friday at Colorado State as senior catcher Andrea Hoffman (West Valley, Utah) led off with a solo shot over the left-field wall. The home run was the second of Hoffman's career. The senior catcher from West Valley, Utah connected on her first home run since homering in her first collegiate career at-bat on Feb. 10, 2006 against Colorado State. Hoffman now has six RBI this season. With one out later in the inning, sophomore catcher Brooke Olson (Bluffdale, Utah) connected on her first career home run to center.

Freshman third baseman Whitney Holm (Spanish Fork, Utah) is on a team-high six-game hit streak, while Olson and Boardman are also enjoying team-high hit streaks.

Foster One Home Run Shy of Utah's All-Time Career Record: Thursday night at New Mexico, Foster hit her 48th career home run, 13th of the season, to tie the game at 4-4 in the fifth inning. She is one round-tripper away from tying Melissa Stahnke (2001-04) for the school record and her 26 RBI this season is a team high.

Utes in the Mountain: The Utes dropped their first two decisions in conference play in 2009 and saw their all-time conference record dip to 304-195-1, good for a .608 winning percentage. Last season, Utah finished third in the MWC after going 10-10 last season in league play.

Utes Fourth in MWC Preseason Poll: Utah was tabbed fourth in the 2009 MWC Preseason Poll, the conference office announced Jan. 28. The Utes tallied 14 points in the voting, picked to finish sixth in last season's voting before placing third in 2009. BYU was tied with UNLV for first place in the preseason poll.

Ute Hitters Connecting Consistently: Holm is currently enjoying a team-high four-game hit streak. Three other Ute players have also recorded four-game hit streaks this year.

Utah Powering Up: As of last week, Utah ranked second in the MWC in home runs and have now hit 32 this season. Nine different Utes have notched round-trippers this year, led by Foster (13), followed by Holm (7), Boardman (4), Staci Hemingway (West Valley, Utah) (2), Hannah Clements (Poway, Calif.) (1), Sharee Fonoti (Ewa Beach, Hawaii) (1), Hoffman (1), Jasey Jensen (Layton, Utah) (1), Bonnie Muir (West Jordan, Utah) (1) and Olson (1).

Last Time against Utah State: Holm hit two home runs and pitchers Ashley Smuda (Scottsdale, Ari.) and Joni Cook (Eagle, Idaho) combined for a six-inning no-hitter as Utah earned a 10-0 `run-rule' win over Utah State Feb. 7 at the Red Desert Classic at the Canyons Softball Complex.

Last Time against BYU: In the final meeting of last season, Hemingway scored in the bottom of the ninth inning off a BYU error to score the winning run in a 4-3 thriller May 8, 2008 at Ute Softball Field. With the game tied 3-3, Hemingway led off the ninth inning with a walk. A sacrifice bunt from Meghan Crouse advanced Hemingway to second. Diana Phillips had the game-winning hit, with the ball going through the BYU shortstop's legs allowing Hemingway to come around to score. The teams split last season's four-game series, with the final three decided by one run apiece.

Scouting the Competition:

Utah State (8-22, 1-5 WAC): The Aggies have lost two of their last three games and are led offensively by Jasmine Harris, who is hitting for a team-high .321 batting average. Harris has also scored a team-high 15 runs and second on the squad with 12 RBI. Kate Greenough is 5-5 this year with a 3.03 ERA.

BYU (26-14, 3-0 MWC): The Cougars boast a 26-14 overall record and are fresh off a three-game sweep of the conference-opening weekend, including an 11-0 win at Colorado State and a pair of wins at New Mexico (13-4, 10-3).