Utah Softball Edged By No. 13/12 Washington, 11-8

Saturday, May 4

Salt Lake City (Utah Softball Stadium)

1:00 PM

University of Utah

Washington

Utah Softball Edged By No. 13/12 Washington, 11-8

5/4/2013 12:00 AM | Softball

May 4, 2013

Box Score

SALT LAKE CITY - Senior shortstop Kelsi Hoopiiaina went 3-for-4 at the plate with four runs driven in, but the University of Utah softball team was edged by No. 13/12 Washington, 11-8, on Saturday in the middle game of its Pac-12 Conference series at Utah Softball Stadium.

Utah (24-28-1, 7-16 Pac-12) scored at least one run in its first five at-bats and had three players with multiple hits, including Hoopiiaina, freshman third baseman Kristen Stewart and sophomore designated player Marissa Mendenhall.

Hoopiiaina connected on a double and a pair of singles for her third three-hit outing of the season, while this was her second four-RBI effort on the year. She now has 14 multiple-hit efforts for the year, which puts her in a second-place tie among Utah's team leaders. The Riverton, Utah native, also now has eight multi-RBI efforts this year, which is tied for the team lead in that category. `Hoop' has 13 doubles this season and 31 RBI to total 40 doubles and 107 RBI over her career as a Ute.

Stewart turned on a season-high three hits in four official at-bats, which was also her fifth multi-hit performance of 2013. Mendenhall was credited with a pair of hits, her 14th game with two or more hits this season. She now has 29 RBI in 2013 and 39 over her Utah career.

On the mound, sophomore Mariah Ramirez threw her seventh complete game of the year, but saw her record fall to 10-12 on the season. At the plate, Ramirez connected on her seventh double of the year in the bottom of the second.

The Huskies jumped out to a 3-0 edge after the bottom of the first, but the Utes got two runs back in the bottom half of the opening frame as Hoopiiaina tagged a one-out single to left field before sophomore left fielder Kate Dickman roped her fifth homer of the year, and the sixth of her career, over the right-center field fence. The Mission Viejo, Calif., native now has 34 RBI this season and 55 for her career.

UW put two more runs on the board in the second frame, but Ramirez led off Utah's second by lacing her seventh double of the season off the right-center field fence. Freshman catcher Shelby Pacheco and junior center fielder Chalese Fankhauser then drew walks to load the bases with Utes with two outs, before Hoopiiaina singled up the middle to plate Ramirez and Pacheco and bring Utah within a score once again, 5-4.

In the Utah half of the third, senior second baseman Jackie Sweet drew a leadoff walk and Stewart knocked a base hit up the middle to put Ute runners on the corners. Mendenhall then slapped a ground-ball single up the middle of the Husky defense to tie the game for the first time at five runs apiece.

The Huskies regained the lead for the third time after a leadoff triple through the left-center field gap by Victoria Hayward, who later scored after an RBI ground out to Sweet by Kaitlin Inglesby gave UW a 6-5 edge. Washington then added two more scores in the frame to push its advantage to 8-5.

Fankhauser led off Utah's fourth with a single down the left-field line and moved to second after Hoopiiaina dropped down her ninth sacrifice bunt of the season. With first base free, Sweet drew a two-out walk before Stewart slapped an RBI single through the right side of the Husky defense that allowed Fankhauser to score Utah's sixth run of the game and make it an 8-6 game. Stewart now has driven in 19 during runs during her debut campaign with the Utes.

UW put two more runs on the scoreboard in the fifth frame to extend its lead to four runs, 10-6. Mendenhall then started the bottom of Utah's fifth inning with a base through the left side of the Husky defense. After a fielder's choice and a Washington miscue, the Utes had the bases loaded once again and Hoopiiaina capitalized with a double to right-center field to cut Utah's deficit in half and pull within 10-8 and the Huskies scored once more to set the final margin at 11-8.

No. 13/12 Washington (35-14, 13-7 Pac-12) was led by a 3-for-3, three-RBI performance by center fielder Kylee Lahners, while Inglesby picked up the win to improve to 20-6.

The Utes will honor their 2013 senior class tomorrow during their regular-season finale against No. 13/12 Washington at 12 p.m. MT. Live audio will be available at stretchinternet.com, while live stats will be posted at