No. 15 Utah Splits Season Opening Doubleheader

Friday, February 9

Tempe, Ariz.

9:15 AM

University of Utah

New Mexico

Photo by: Steve C. Wilson

2/9/2018 4:21 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Georgia 5 Utah 1 Utah 17 UNM 0

Utes beat New Mexico 17-0, fall to No. 25 Georgia 5-1

TEMPE, Ariz. – No. 15 Utah Softball split a doubleheader to open the season at the Kajikawa Classic. The Utes routed New Mexico 17-0 this morning before falling this afternoon to No. 25 Georgia, 5-1.

Utah 17, New Mexico 0
The Utes used an 11-run second inning to break the game open and three pitchers held the Lobos to one hit in the 2018 debut this morning.

BreOnna Castaneda, Heather Bowen and Aubrey Peterson all homered (combined 8-for-11, 8 runs, 8 RBI) while Katie Donovan, Hailey Hilburn and Claire Feldman struck out 11 UNM batters in five innings of work.

Utah took an immediate lead when Ally Dickman smacked a grounder with a pair of runners on. The UNM second baseman booted the chance and Alyssa Barrera scored the first run of the game.

The first five runners reached based in the second inning as Julia Noskin and Barrera delivered run-scoring singles. After a pop up, Bowen doubled home two more runs for the Utes.

Then, for the second time, Dickman had a grounder misplayed by the Lobos and another two runs came home. Newcomer Camryn Woodall would smash a two-run double to the gap in left-center before Castaneda cleared the bases with a three-run bomb, Utah's first homer of the season.

Bowen and Peterson would add round-trippers in the third. Bowen's 15^th home run of her career was a solo shot while the first of Peterson's tenure was a two-run trot.

Abby Robertson, another Ute making her first start added a two-run single in the fifth to close the scoring. Utah's five freshmen (three starters, batting 7-8-9 in the lineup) were a combined 5-for-10 with three runs scored and five driven in.

No. 25 Georgia 5, No. 15 Utah 1
Utah's offense struggled in the second game, managing just five hits against Georgia hurler Brittany Gray. On the other side, Miranda Viramontes matched her over six innings for the Utes, holding the Dawgs to one run in six innings while striking out seven.

Utah grabbed a first-inning lead courtesy of a Heather Bowen sacrifice fly. The senior plated BreOnna Castaneda who started the game with a single up the middle, advancing on an error and ground out.

After getting out of jams in the first two frames, Viramontes ran into trouble again in the fourth after a two-out single and walk. A grounder to first took a wicked hop and eluded the Utah fielder, tying the score, 1-1.

With two on in the fourth, Utah's freshmen found sledding a little tougher as a liner to third and strikeout quelled the rally.

With the game still tied, UGA got a pair of two-run homers in the seventh off Hailey Hilburn to secure the tightly wound affair.

The Utes play another doubleheader tomorrow starting at 9 a.m. with Nebraska. The second game is against No. 11 Tennessee at Farrington Stadium on the Arizona State campus. That contest can be seen live on the Pac-12 Networks.