Upcoming Event: Softball versus Salt Lake Community College on September 23, 2025 at 4 p.m.
4 p.m.
Softball
vs Salt Lake Community College
Wednesday, March 10
Salt Lake City, Utah
4:00 PM
University of Utah
6
vs
1
South Dakota St.
Utah Softball Earns 1,000th All-Time Win
3/10/2010 12:00 AM | Softball
March 10, 2010
SALT LAKE CITY - Sophomore left fielder Hannah Clements went 3-for-4 with two RBI and freshman shortstop Kelsi Hoopiiaina was 3-for-3 with one run driven in as the University of Utah softball team defeated South Dakota State, 6-1, in its home opener on Wednesday for the 1,000th win in school history.
Utah (10-6) had nine hits in 27 at-bats against the South Dakota State pitching staff with five different Utes collecting hits. Both Clements and Hoopiiaina hit two singles and a triple. Clements' two-run triple in the second inning allow Utah to break the game open with three runs in the frame.
"What's fun about our lineup is that we have hitters from top to bottom," Utah head coach Amy Hogue said. "The bottom of our lineup started our best inning, the second."
The Utes scored all six of their runs in their first three at-bats of the game. Utah has scored in the first inning in 14 of their 16 games this season and own a 28-8 advantage in the first frame.
South Dakota State managed to push across the first run of the contest in the top of the first inning, but Utah responded swiftly when sophomore third baseman Whitney Holm cranked her second home run of the season, a two-run shot, to give Utes the lead for good after the first inning. The Spanish Fork, Utah native now has seven RBI this season.
"I'm really proud of the way we came out and jumped on a team by scoring runs early," Hogue said. "If we keep doing that, that's going to win us a lot of ball games this year. We stopped doing that for a little while and lost some games. The way we started the season was the way we played today and that was when were jumping on our opponents with runs early and then held them with our defense."
Utah's big second inning began when Hoopiiaina singled and advanced to second base after the South Dakota State right fielder mishandled the ball. Senior first baseman Lindsey Palmer then singled to right before consecutive wild pitches allowed Hoopiiaina to score. Olson then reached on an error by the Jackrabbit second baseman with one out in the frame before Clements stepped to the plate and lined a triple to left-center field to drive Palmer and Olson across the plate. Clements now has nine RBI this season.
After Tia Palauni drew a one-out walk in the third inning, Hoopiiaina struck her first career triple to left field to score Palauni and set the final margin at 6-1 in favor of the Utes.
On the mound, Ashley Smuda pitched five strong innings for her 10th win of the season. She did not allow an earned run while walking four and striking out one. The Scottsdale, Ariz., native improved to 10-2 this season.
"Smuda was a little off today," Hogue said. "But she got the outs she needed and got the job done."
Brittany Parker came on for two innings of relief, giving up only one with two hits while striking out five Jackrabbit hitters.
"That was really fun for me to bring her in and have her perform the way she did," Hogue said. "That's exciting. She's been like that recently. Hopefully, she'll go to Oklahoma and win us some ball games."
The Utes head to the Oklahoma Spring Festival this weekend, beginning Friday against the Sooners at 6 p.m. CT.
Utah now has a 1,000-737-5 mark in school history, good for a .575 winning percentage.
Players Mentioned
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UTIL
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