Deseret Duel On Tap for Wednesday

Wednesday, March 22

Provo, Utah

5:00 PM

University of Utah

Brigham Young

3/20/2017 5:23 PM | Softball

Utah vs. BYU Game Notes

Utes and Cougars meet in Provo

Wednesday, Mar. 22	No. 20 Utah vs. No. 25 BYU \| 5 p.m. MT
WATCH	BYU TV
LIVE STATS	StatBroadcast
LOCATION	Provo \| Gail Miller Field
GAME INFORMATION	Game Notes

UTAH NOTES
- Utah ranks among the top 30 in the nation in a handful of offensive categories including 17th in batting average (.334), 20th in scoring (6.4 runs per game) and 26th in on-base percentage (.409).

- Hannah Flippen recently surpassed the 200-hit and 100-RBI plateaus for her career. She is two runs shy of setting the Utah career mark for runs scored set by Sandy Rhea (1995-98).

- Flippen currently leads the Pac-12 in slugging percentage (.842) and ranks second in runs batted in (31), third in on-base percentage (.539), fourth in doubles and batting average (.461), eighth in runs scored and ninth in homers.

- Anissa Urtez had a big weekend in Hawaii and surpassed 200 hits for her career. She currently owns the fifth-highest batting average among Pac-12 players (.455)

- She also ranks 11th in the league in on-base percentage and 14th in runs driven in. With 39 doubles, she is two shy of moving into the top-five all-time at Utah

- With 26 runs batted in, Heather Bowen ranks fifth in the Pac-12. The junior recently notched the 100th hit of her career.

- Utah currently ranks fourth in the nation with a combined team ERA of 1.02. All three pitchers rank among the top 10 in the Pac-12 in ERA

- One of the keys to the pitching success has been the dearth of walks. All three pitchers rank very high on the national charts with Miranda Viramontes sitting third at 0.61 BB's per contest.

- Viramontes threw a perfect game vs. CSU Bakersfield and has a pair of complete game victories over No. 13 Tennessee and No. 10 UCLA. She is undefeated and ranks 13th in the nation with a 0.76 ERA. She recently notched the 200th strikeout of her career.

- Katie Donovan is fourth in the Pac-12 with 11 wins and ranks sixth in strikeouts. She recently surpassed 300 K's for her career and her two saves pace the conference

- Hailey Hilburn also remains perfect on the season and is fourth in the nation with a 0.57 ERA.

- Defensively, Utah leads the league in double plays turned, 27th in the nation. This comes after ranking second in the nation last season.

- The Utes have also shown a penchant for stealing bases, swiping an average of 1.2 per contest, second among Pac-12 teams

THE DESERET DUEL
On Sept. 13, 2007, the University of Utah and Brigham Young University announced the formation of a rivalry series between the two schools. The series is named the Deseret First Duel after title sponsor Deseret First Credit Union.

The rivalry series involves the 11 sports in which the two universities meet in head-to-head competition during regular-season play. Multi-team events (including postseason tournaments) are not included in The Duel standings.

The Deseret First Duel uses a system that awards points to the winner of each head-to-head competition. Points won by each sport will count toward a school's overall total.

A team trophy will be awarded to the winner of each sport - and at the conclusion of each school year - a granite traveling trophy will be awarded to the overall rivalry series champion.

The Utah-BYU rivalry is one of the oldest and strongest in the country. The Wall Street Journal rated the rivalry one of the best in college athletics.

This season, Utah leads the competition 26-3 and despite losing last season has won three of the last four Duels.

LAST WEEK
Heading into a weekend series at No. UCLA, the Utes had never won at Westwood. By the end of the three-game set, the Utes had made history by sweeping the No. 10 Bruins.

UCLA entered this series, fifth in the nation in home runs and 10th in slugging percentage but totaled just three runs on 13 hits. Miranda Viramontes went 2-0 with a 0.64 ERA while Katie Donovan earned a win in the middle game and pitched three innings of scoreless relief in the finale.

Offensively, Hannah Flippen batted .444 with a homer, two doubles and a team-high nine runs batted in. Alyssa Barrera batted .364 and paced the squad with four runs scored. Ally Dickman also came through with a solid three games, batting .429

BARRERA NAMED PAC-12 FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
Utah outfielder Alyssa Barrera was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week on Feb. 28 for her performances on the field at the Mary Nutter Classic.

The Chino Hills, California native led the team with four runs scored, a .438 batting average and also slugged .563. She reached base safely in her first 13 games and opened her collegiate career with an 11-game hit streak.

She currently ranks fourth in the Pac-12 and leads the Utes with 28 runs scored and along with Ally Dickman, is one of the five most difficult players in the conference to strikeout.

FLIPPEN PEGGED AS SENIOR CLASS AWARD CANDIDATE
Hannah Flippen was named as a candidate for the 2017 Senior CLASS Award in collegiate softball. Thirty of the top NCAA softball student-athletes who excel both on and off the field were selected earlier this season.

For her career, Flippen owns the highest batting average of any Ute ever at .386 (Cyndee Bennett, .371, 1994-97).

Last season, the National Fastpitch Coaches Association named Flippen an All-American. The Ute second baseman was also named the 2016 Pac-12 Player of the Year and tabbed as an Academic All-America First Team selection by CoSIDA.

Prior to the start of this season, Flippen was named to the USA Softball Player of the Year Watch List and also earned a spot on the US National Team.