Utah Softball Suffers Initial Setbacks at Mary Nutter Classic

Sunday, February 26

Cathedral City, Calif.

12:30 PM

University of Utah

11-1

San Diego State

8-5

San Diego State

Utah

Utah Softball Suffers Initial Setbacks at Mary Nutter Classic

2/26/2017 6:45 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Utes lose pair of one-run games

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. - Utah Softball suffered its first setbacks of the season on Sunday at the Mary Nutter Classic. The Utes dropped a pair of one-run contests, 3-2 to San Diego State and 1-0 to Cal State Fullerton.

San Diego State 3, Utah 2

Everything seemed to be going according to plan as Delilah Pacheco singled to start and Hannah Flippen quickly cracked a two-run homer, her second in as many games.

After running into trouble in the second, SDSU made a pitching change and brought in Marissa Moreno. She put out the threat and kept her side within two.

The Aztecs loaded the bases in the third against Miranda Viramontes but a 4-6-3 double play ended the threat. Utah put its first two runners on base to start the bottom half but could not push anything across.

SDSU drew even in the fourth on a pair of infield singles and costly errors by the Utes. However, another double play kept it from taking the lead.

Utah loaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth but after 11 straight balls, Moreno battled back to get an inning-ending ground ball to second.

With a runner on in the fifth, SDSU smashed a double to the gap in right center. However, Alyssa Barrera alertly gathered the ball, fired to Flippen who pegged a strike toward Kelly Martinez. The freshman backstop applied the tag to keep the contest knotted, 2-2.

Molly Sturdivant homered to start the sixth off Katie Donovan, who had entered in relief. She would eventually take the loss, allowing just the one run in three innings. Viramontes finished with no earned runs over four innings of work.

Utah's last chance occurred in the seventh when Anissa Urtez and Heather Bowen singled with one out. After a grounder to the left side moved Urtez to third, a pop up ended the game with the Utes in the loss column for the first time.

Fullerton 1, Utah 0

The Titans grabbed an early lead thanks to a Lexi Gonzalez RBI double in the first off Donovan

The Utah offense was held silent until the fourth when Alyssa Barrera doubled with one out. After a walk to Hannah Flippen, a pair of strikeouts kept Utah from evening the scores.

Back in the circle, Donovan was keeping the Titans off the board and finished with six strikeouts and just the one run allowed over 4 2/3 innings. Viramontes entered and notched four successive outs to keep the Utes within striking distance.

Utah's last chance came in the ninth when Flippen led off with a single to left. Anissa Urtez lifted a fly ball to center that was trapped by the CSF fielder. However, the indecision on the umpire's call allowed the Titans to throw to second and force Flippen.

After a Heather Bowen bunt moved the tying run into scoring position, a wild pitch moved Urtez over to third. Kelly Martinez smashed a ball to left that sailed out of the park but drifted foul by a few feet and Kelsey Kessler notched her ninth strikeout to end the game.