Utah Softball Smothers Southern Utah

Tuesday, March 30

Salt Lake City, Utah

4:00 PM

University of Utah

Southern Utah

3/30/2010 12:00 AM | Softball

March 30, 2010

Box Score

SALT LAKE CITY - The Ute pitching staff combined for a pair of shutouts and four different Utes had four hits as the University of Utah softball team claimed a 12-0 and 14-0 run-rule victories over Southern Utah Tuesday at Ute Softball Field.

Utah (14-17) hit .517 as a team with 30 hits between the two games and scored at least one run in every inning.

"As a coach, you never have complaints when you score in every inning the entire day," Utah head coach Amy Hogue said. "We didn't make any errors and we threw strikes so it was a good day."

Tia Palauni was 4-for-7 with five RBI while Kara Foster and Hannah Clements were both 4-of-6 with four RBI apiece. Whitney Holm was 4-for-7 as well with five runs scored.

Lindsey Palmer was the lone Ute to be perfect at the plate, posting a 3-for-3 performance with five RBI.

"We did a good job today of just hitting the mistakes," Hogue said. "We hit the balls they threw down the middle of the plate. We came to play. It wasn't like we had to have things fall our way, we hit the ball hard all through the lineup and even through the bench."

Ashley Smuda got the decision in both victories to improve to 12-7 this season. Smuda allowed four hits in 7.0 innings then struck out seven Thunderbird hitters and only walked one.

"I was very happy with our pitching staff, all except the very first inning," Hogue said. "From then on out, we did all of the things we had to do to win."

Joni Cook came on in relief for 3.0 innings, giving up two hits with one walk and one strikeout.

"Today, we got back on track with what we're capable of doing," Hogue said. "[Southern Utah] threw a lot of strikes down the middle of the plate to us and we hit it like we should have."

Game 1: Utah def. Southern Utah, 12-0 (5 inn.)

Palauni led the U. offense with a 3-for-3 day at the plate with three RBI and three runs scored.

Foster opened the scoring in the first inning with a two-run home run to right-center. The senior from Derby, Kan., upped her school-record home run total to 57 with her team-high fifth homer of the season.

Palauni opened the second inning with a triple to left-center field and was driven in by a single from Palmer. Palauni made the game 4-0 by scoring on a bunt single by Sandi Bowles. In the third inning, Holm led off with a single up the middle then scored on Palauni's second triple in as many innings. Palmer drove Palauni in again with another RBI single through the center of the SUU defense.

Utah then exploded for six runs in the bottom of the fourth inning with the benefit of two Thunderbird errors to set the final margin at 12-0.

Game 2: Utah def. Southern Utah, 14-0 (5 inn.)

Foster was 3-for-3 at the dish with one run driven in while three other Utes had two hits apiece. She is now tied with Olson for team-high honors in multiple-hit games with 10 this season.

Clements went 2-for-4 with three RBI and one run scored.

Utah started quickly with seven runs in the bottom of the first inning with the aid of two SUU errors. The Utes have scored in the first inning in 24 of their 31 games this season and are outscoring their opponents 48-23 in the first frame. Utah has also been the first team to score in 23 of its 31 games in 2010.

The Utes tacked on four more runs in their second at-bat, scored one run in the third and pushed two runs across in their final at-bat of the game.

Up next for the Utes is a road doubleheader at Weber State Friday at 2 p.m.