Utah Softball Heads to Mary Nutter Classic and San Diego

Friday, February 21

Palm Springs, CA

4:00 PM

University of Utah

Long Beach State

Utah Softball Heads to Mary Nutter Classic and San Diego

2/18/2020 5:23 PM | Softball

2020 Utah Softball Game Notes

MARY NUTTER CLASSIC & SAN DIEGO
Friday, Feb. 21	Long Beach State @ 3 p.m. PT \| UC Riverside @ 6 p.m. PT
Saturday, Feb. 22	Cal State Fullerton @ 5 p.m. PT \| U.S. National Team @ 8 p.m. PT
Monday, Feb. 24	San Diego @ 12 p.m. PT (DH)
LOCATION	Fri. - Sat. (Mary Nutter Classic; Palm Springs, Calif.); Mon. (San Diego, Calif.)
LIVE STREAM	Mary Nutter Classic - FloSoftball
LIVE STATS	StatBroadcast
GAME INFORMATION	Game Notes (PDF)

ON DECK
Utah travels to the Mary Nutter Classic for three games and an exhibition with the U.S. National Team. After a day of travel, the Utes will then play a doubleheader at San Diego

QUICK HITS
- Haley Denning was named to the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge All-Tournament Team after hitting .467 and leading the team with four runs scored. She currently leads the Pac-12 in stolen bases after four against No. 12 Tennessee and ranks fifth with a .462 batting average

- Fellow freshman Halle Morris impressed with six solid innings against No. 6 Texas and was named to the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge All-Tournament Team. She also earned the save vs. Colorado State in the finale, her second of the season.

- Sydney Sandez is fourth in the nation with five wins on the season and a big reason for that has been her strikeout-to-walk ratio of 19:2.

- Mary Beth Feldman impressed in her first collegiate start, topping last year's National Freshman of the Year Danielle Williams of Northwestern.

- Utah opened with five wins at the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Ariz. and one more in Mexico. That was its best start since the 2017 season when it started 11-0 and made the NCAA Super Regionals.

- Utah's win over Northwestern was its first over a Top 25 team at a neutral site since 2017 when it beat No. 7 LSU and No. 13 Tennessee at the Mary Nutter Classic.

UTES AT THE 2020 OLYMPICS
Former Ute Hannah Flippen was named to the U.S. Olympic Softball Team roster and will compete against the Utes on Saturday night. The three-time All-American is Utah's all-time leader in runs, hits and batting average. She concluded a stellar career (2014-17) by becoming the first four-time All-Pac-12 honoree in school history.

Flippen was also the first Ute named Pac-12 Softball Player of the Year in consecutive seasons and the first person in the history of the conference to win that award, along with Defensive Player of the Year honors, in the same campaign. The U.S. Roster has five Pac-12 players on its roster.

Flippen's former teammate Anissa Urtez is part of the Mexican National Team roster that played against the Utes last weekend in Puerto Vallarta. She helped lead her country to its first Olympic tournament by winning the World Baseball Softball Confederation Americas qualifier in September.

Urtez, a three-time All-Pac-12 honoree, started every game in her Utah career. A Pac-12 All-Academic selection, she ranks in the top five all-time in both doubles (42) and runs batted in (161) for the Utes.

At the 2017 World Cup, she led Mexico in singles and runs scored, and at the 2018 International Cup, she hit .313, pacing her squad in hits. Current teammate include former ASU pitcher Dallas Escobedo and UA hurler Danielle O'Toole.

BARRERA BREAKOUT
Alyssa Barrera earned all-region honors for a second time from the NFCA after pacing Utah with a .376 batting average (13th – P12), 59 hits, 37 RBI and a .432 on-base percentage in 2019.

She also finished second on the team with 30 runs scored, nine doubles and a .599 slugging percentage (15th – P12). Her seven triples topped the conference and ranked fifth nationally while also matching the school record.

Defensively, she registered 71 putouts and led the Pac-12 with seven outfield assists. She has started
all 166 games of her career and has the fourth-best batting average for a Ute (.363).

NEXT STEP FOR NOSKIN
Julia Noskin picked up her first NFCA honor after leading Utah with 36 runs scored and nine stolen
bases in 2019. She was second on the team with 54 hits and ranked third in batting (.318).

Noskin also paced the Pac-12 with 130 fielding assists and her prowess in the field helped Utah turn a league best 28 double plays.

As a freshman in 2018, Noskin led Utah in total hits and batted .333 with a .455 on-base percentage en route to Pac-12 All-Freshmen honors.

BONSTROM AT BAT
In Pac-12 play last season, Ellessa Bonstrom led all freshmen with four homers. She ranked second in runs scored and walks, third in RBI, fourth in slugging and ninth in OBP.

She also excelled defensively, ranking second among all fielders in assists during conference play with 53.

DYNAMIC DUO TURNING TWO
Utah turned 28 double plays, the most in the Pac-12 and 22nd nationally. The Utes turned three in a game vs. Ohio State last season.

Julia Noskin and BreOnna Castaneda combined for 223 assists, 44 more than any other duo in the conference (Inouye/Young, STAN). In league play, Noskin and Ellessa Bonstrom registered 110 assists, 32 more than the next best pair.

SANDEZ STARTING CAREER
Sydney Sandez's 38 appearances a year ago were second most in the Pac-12 and she also finished 10th in innings pitched (130 1/3), tops among conference freshmen.

Sandez also won six of Utah's seven Pac-12 games with a pair of victories over Cal and Oregon, as well as out-dueling Gabby Plain and No. 3 Washington

UTES SET PAC-12 ACADEMIC STANDARD
Utah placed a record 10 student-athletes on the Pac-12 All-Academic teams, tops in the conference.

Two-time NFCA All-Region honoree and All-Pac-12 performer Alyssa Barrera received her second academic award. Julia Noskin, another Ute recognized as an All-Pac-12 player, notched her first academic honor along with BreOnna Castaneda and Alyssa Palacios.

Utah has had 29 student-athletes earn 45 Pac-12 All-Academic honors since joining the conference in 2012.

UTAH SOFTBALL EARNS NATIONAL AWARD
Utah Softball was one of five schools from the Pac-12 Conference recognized by the National Fastpitch Coaches of America as an Easton All-Academic Team.

The Utes registered a 3.39 GPA, the second-best mark among Pac-12 teams. Six student-athletes were recognized as Easton/NFCA Division 1 Scholar Athletes, including Katie Faulk, Claire Feldman, Jordyn Gasper, Ellessa Bonstrom and Haley Denning.

UTE NEWCOMERS AT A GLANCE
Destiny Quiles was a First Team All-Monticello Empire honoree in California where she led the league in home runs and finished second in runs batted in and walks. She also helped her club team to a PGF Platinum National Championship runner up position and was the MVP of the UA Softball Factory World Series.

Madi Jacobus was ranked the No. 71 player in the nation by Flo Softball. She was a Second Team All-State selection at Bishop Montgomery in Torrance, Calif.

Mary Beth Feldman, younger sister of current Ute Claire, was a member of back-to-back ASA Florida state championships.

Charlee Pond spent her freshman season at Ohio University, primarily playing in the infield. She started 41 games and hit .323 with 24 runs scored, five home runs and 23 RBI. She also slugged .528 and led the team with four triples.

Halle Morris was named to FloSoftball's Hot 100 and was ranked the No. 8 player in the state of Arizona by MaxPreps.com. Morris also captured a 4A state title at Canyon Del Oro High School.