Upcoming Event: Softball versus Utah Valley on October 2, 2025 at 4 p.m.
4 p.m.
Softball
vs Utah Valley
Friday, February 17
Baton Rouge, La.
12:30 p.m.
University of Utah
5-1
0
vs
2
Central Arkansas
6-0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
R
H
E
Central Ark.
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
2
3
0
Utah
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Kayla Beaver (3-0)
L: Lopez, Mariah (3-1)
Batting:
RBI: Madi Young 2
SH: Tremere Harris 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Jenna Wildeman 1 ; Kylie Griffin 1
HBP: Bella Barnes 1
Base Running:
SB: Belarde, Aliya 1
CS: Bennett, Stella 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
2
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
0
RBI
0
AB
2
R
0
H
0
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
UTIL
/ Softball
INF
/ Softball
INF
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
Photo by: LSU Athletics
Utah Softball Drops Decisions to Central Arkansas, No. 18 LSU
2/17/2023 9:30 PM | Softball
Utah falls by scores of 2-0, 6-4
BATON ROUGE, La. – Despite a pair of solid starting pitching performances and home runs from Ellessa Bonstrom and Julia Jimenez, the University of Utah softball team suffered two narrow defeats on Friday, falling to the Central Arkansas Bears, 2-0, and the No. 18 LSU Tigers, 6-4, on day one of the Tiger Classic at Tiger Park.
These defeats snap Utah's season opening five-game win streak and put the Utes at 5-2 in 2023.
"Today was tough," said head coach Amy Hogue. "We faced good pitching all day and in the first game we didn't perform well at the plate. Mariah pitched well enough to win, but we didn't give her any run support. "The second game we hit it much, much better. I was happy with running off their starter early, but we made too many costly mistakes throughout the game. It's tough, but if you want to beat a good team, you can't make mistakes."
Game One: Utah vs. Central Arkansas
The day started with a pitcher's duel between Utah's Mariah Lopez and UCA's Kayla Beaver. Utah almost broke the ice early against Beaver, loading the bases in the first inning with one out, but a line drive off the bat of Karlie Davison became a double pay and killed the rally.
Lopez, meanwhile, spent the first four innings keeping UCA from putting a single player on base. She struck out seven over those four frames, including all three hitters she faced in the fourth. In the fifth, she induced consecutive ground balls to end a two-on, one-out threat by the Bears.
UCA broke through for the game's only runs in the sixth, when a Madi Young single plated a pair with one out. Beaver retired the side in order in the sixth and seventh to end the game.
Game Two: Utah vs. LSU
Against the Tigers, the Utes quickly broke out of their doldrums and grabbed the early lead when Bonstrom drilled a two-run homer to dead center in the top of the first. Two innings later, Jimenez skied a solo shot over the wall in left and the Utes had 3-0 edge.
LSU got their first two runs in their half of the third, when four hitters reached and McKenzie Redoutey and Raeleen Gutierrez came around to score, slicing the Utes' lead to one. Utah upped their advantage back to two in the fifth, courtesy of a Davison RBI double, but the Tigers immediately got that run back in the bottom of the frame, sending the contest into the last two frames with a score of 4-3.
The Utes held on to the lead by stranding a runner on third in the fifth and retiring the side in order in the sixth, but a single and an error put the winning run on base. When LSU's Taylor Pleasants lifted a three-run homer to center, Utah was handed its second defeat of the day.
Up Next
The Utes will be back on the diamond twice more on Saturday, starting the day with a matchup against Ohio at 12:30 p.m. MT, followed by a 3 p.m. MT rematch against LSU.
Follow the Utes!
Fans can follow along on social media (Twitter: @Utah_Softball |Instagram: @utahsoftball | Facebook: Facebook.com/Utessoftball).
These defeats snap Utah's season opening five-game win streak and put the Utes at 5-2 in 2023.
"Today was tough," said head coach Amy Hogue. "We faced good pitching all day and in the first game we didn't perform well at the plate. Mariah pitched well enough to win, but we didn't give her any run support. "The second game we hit it much, much better. I was happy with running off their starter early, but we made too many costly mistakes throughout the game. It's tough, but if you want to beat a good team, you can't make mistakes."
Game One: Utah vs. Central Arkansas
The day started with a pitcher's duel between Utah's Mariah Lopez and UCA's Kayla Beaver. Utah almost broke the ice early against Beaver, loading the bases in the first inning with one out, but a line drive off the bat of Karlie Davison became a double pay and killed the rally.
Lopez, meanwhile, spent the first four innings keeping UCA from putting a single player on base. She struck out seven over those four frames, including all three hitters she faced in the fourth. In the fifth, she induced consecutive ground balls to end a two-on, one-out threat by the Bears.
UCA broke through for the game's only runs in the sixth, when a Madi Young single plated a pair with one out. Beaver retired the side in order in the sixth and seventh to end the game.
Game Two: Utah vs. LSU
Against the Tigers, the Utes quickly broke out of their doldrums and grabbed the early lead when Bonstrom drilled a two-run homer to dead center in the top of the first. Two innings later, Jimenez skied a solo shot over the wall in left and the Utes had 3-0 edge.
LSU got their first two runs in their half of the third, when four hitters reached and McKenzie Redoutey and Raeleen Gutierrez came around to score, slicing the Utes' lead to one. Utah upped their advantage back to two in the fifth, courtesy of a Davison RBI double, but the Tigers immediately got that run back in the bottom of the frame, sending the contest into the last two frames with a score of 4-3.
The Utes held on to the lead by stranding a runner on third in the fifth and retiring the side in order in the sixth, but a single and an error put the winning run on base. When LSU's Taylor Pleasants lifted a three-run homer to center, Utah was handed its second defeat of the day.
Up Next
The Utes will be back on the diamond twice more on Saturday, starting the day with a matchup against Ohio at 12:30 p.m. MT, followed by a 3 p.m. MT rematch against LSU.
Follow the Utes!
Fans can follow along on social media (Twitter: @Utah_Softball |Instagram: @utahsoftball | Facebook: Facebook.com/Utessoftball).
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