Utah Softball Edges San Diego State, 3-2

Thursday, April 14

San Diego, Calif.

6:00 PM

University of Utah

San Diego State

4/14/2011 12:00 AM | Softball

April 14, 2011

Box Score

SAN DIEGO - Clutch hitting with two out in the top of the seventh inning gave the University of Utah softball team a 3-2 win over San Diego State Thursday night in its Mountain West Conference season opener at SDSU Softball Stadium.

Utah (23-16, 1-0 MWC) has won eight consecutive games and 11 of its last 12. The Utes also improved to 18-8 this season when scoring first. Utah held a 9-7 edge in hits over SDSU while both teams were charged with one error apiece.

"It was a great team win," Utah head coach Amy Hogue said. "It's so fun to see everything come together. In today's game, we faced everything that we had been working so hard on in practice. Every one of them came up. All of the little things we have been working so hard on all showed up in this game and we did them all so well."

Generra Nielson did not yield a hit to the Aztecs through the first three innings and ended her night after 5.1 innings after allowing two earned runs on seven hits. The Blanding, Utah native did not issue a walk after facing 22 SDSU hitters.

Freshman Naomi Amu came on for the final 1.2 innings and did not allow a run or hit while striking out a pair of Aztecs. After Utah's seventh-inning heroics, Amu picked up her fourth consecutive win in pitching decisions. Amu is now 8-6 on the mound this season.

"It was like a home game for [Amu]," Hogue said of the Oceanside, Calif., native. "An unbelievable amount of people came to support her. She pitched with great composure because there was a lot riding on this game for her because of how many people were there cheering her on.

Tara Glover and Sandi Bowles both had a pair of hits for the Utes in the contest. Glover went 3-for-4 with a double and reached on an error in the top of the seventh inning that allowed Olson to score the game-winning run. Bowles had two singles in three at-bats and also drove in one run to go along with one run.

"We just came out and attacked," Hogue said. "We swung the bats with a lot of confidence and we would have scored more but we just didn't get any breaks early in the game, but we just kept pushing and finally got couple of hits together to put some runs on the board."

Sophomore shortstop Kelsi Hoopiiaina led of Utah's fourth inning with a one-out double down the right-field line then Bowles stepped to the plate with two out and Bowles slapped a 2-0 delivery along the left-field line to score Hoopiiaina for the first run of the game.

The Utes tacked on another run in the fifth frame connected for her second home run of the season as sophomore second baseman Jackie Sweet cranked a 1-0 pitch over the left-field wall. Sweet now has driven in eight runs.

SDSU tied the ballgame at two runs apiece in the bottom of the sixth when back-to-back singles followed by a sacrifice bunt that moved the runners to second and third base for the Aztecs. Maeva then singled in a run and a Ute misplay allowed the second SDSU run to cross the plate.

"We've been working so hard on keeping our composure after giving up the lead," Hogue said. "It's so fun to have someone like [Amu], who can come in and pitch with confidence and shut a team down. I was just glad that we were able to push that run across in the seventh because [Amu] was going to do great."

Utah regained the lead in the top of the seventh beginning when Olson hit a two-out double to right field and was able to score the go-ahead run after an error by the Aztec first baseman on a ball hit by Glover.

San Diego State (27-15, 3-1 MWC) was handed its first MWC loss of the season and the Aztecs also had their school-record-tying 13-game win streak.

The Utes continue MWC action tomorrow at UNLV. First pitch from Eller Media Stadium is set for 6 p.m. PT.