Upcoming Event: Softball at UCF on April 2, 2026 at 4 p.m.
4 p.m.
Softball
at UCF
.png&width=31&height=31&type=webp)
The University of Utah Athletics
Program-Record Eight Utes Named All-Pac-12 from Utah Softball
5/10/2023 10:56 AM | Softball
Lopez, Belarde, Bonstrom and Dayton make All-Pac-12 First-Team
SAN FRANCISCO – The No. 15 University of Utah softball team set a new program benchmark with eight all-conference selections, including four all-league first-team picks, when the Pac-12 released its annual postseason awards on Wednesday.
Aliya Belarde, Ellessa Bonstrom, Abby Dayton and Mariah Lopez all earned spots on the All-Pac-12 First-Team, with Belarde also landing on the league's all-defensive roster and Dayton was chosen for all-freshman squad. The all-conference second-team included Haley Denning, Sophie Jacquez and Julia Jimenez, while Sydney Sandez garnered all-league third-team recognition.
The eight all-conference players tops Utah's previous high of six, something the program accomplished in both 2001 and 2015 and by placing four student-athletes on the All-Pac-12 First-Team, the Utes also outdid their previous high-water mark of three since joining the league.
Belarde was picked for the first-team after a regular season in which she batted .408, the fourth-highest batting average in the Pac-12, and also earned spots in the top five on the conference leaderboard in hits, steals, on-base percentage and runs. She ranks second in the league in the latter category, scoring 47 times in 2023, the most by a Ute since Alyssa Barrera came across 47 times in 2017. In the field, no one on the Utah roster collected more assists than Belarde's 89 and she was also part of a team-high 13 double plays.
For Bonstrom, this makes three straight seasons on the All-Pac-12 roster and back-to-back campaigns that landed her on the first-team, making her the first Ute to accomplish that feat since Hannah Flippen in 2016 and 2017.
Bonstrom's 48 RBIs put her sixth in the conference and she's also in the top 10 in steals, on-base percentage, walks and runs scored, while her nine homers are a team-best. Her efforts during the season earned her a pair of Pac-12 Player of the Week awards, making her only the second Ute to ever win two of those honors in one season.
Dayton is the first Utah freshman to make first-team all-conference since Katie Donovan in 2015 and the program's first all-freshman selection since 2018. The Riverside, California native accomplished these feats by hitting .369 with a .442 on-base percentage and stealing six bases in as many attempts. She also was the recipient of two Pac-12 Freshman of the Week awards, earning one after hitting .600 in a series victory over Arizona, then going 7-for-8 to help her squad take two-of-three from Arizona State.
Lopez's first-team nod is thanks in large part to final month of the season in which she pitched to a 1.21 ERA over 11 appearances and during that stretch she earned victories over No. 5 Stanford, No. 9 Washington and a pair of at the expense of No. 13 Oregon. He last win over the Ducks was a seven-inning no-hitter in which she retired 15 of the final 16 hitters she faced. This is one more achievement in a fantastic junior campaign for Lopez, who earlier in 2023 became the first Utah pitcher to ever earn two Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week awards in one year.
No Utah softball student-athlete had ever made the All-Pac-12 Second-Team three straight seasons until Haley Denning, who has also led the conference in stolen bases for the third straight year, swiping 28 bags. Denning's senior year got off to a ferocious start, as she spent the first month hitting over .450 and has maintained spots near the top of the league leaderboard in runs and hits. She's also closing in on becoming just the third Ute to ever reach 100 career stolen bases.
By contrast, this is the first all-conference honor for Jacquez, who has hit .355 as a junior and reached career-highs in nearly every statistic, including hits, runs, homers and RBIs. Her 11 doubles are Utah's second-most, while her four homers include one of Utah's most important clutch hits in 2023, in the form of a game-tying sixth-inning four-bagger against Stanford on April 15.
Jimenez is now two-for-two as a Ute in making the All-Pac-12 list and she once again earned that status by thriving as a run producer in the heart of the order. No one on the roster can claim a higher slugging percentage than Jimenez's .634 or more doubles than her 13, the second-highest total in the Pac-12. Jimenez's 44 RBIs are Utah's second-most, as are her 16 walks, and she's third on the team in hits with 51.
Sydney Sandez is another newcomer to the all-conference roster, but she claimed that standing by matching her career-high with 12 victories, pitching to a 2.79 ERA and playing a role in six Utah shutouts, including a combined no-hitter in March. Sandez's ERA stood at 1.78 through the season's first month and she played a critical role in the Utes' March sweep of Oregon State, collecting two of her team's three wins.
All these all-conference performers will be on the field on Thursday, when the Utes open the Pac-12 Tournament with a 10 a.m. MST (11 a.m. MT) matchup against the California Golden Bears.
Follow the Utes!
Fans can follow along on social media (Twitter: @Utah_Softball |Instagram: @utahsoftball | Facebook: Facebook.com/Utessoftball).
Players Mentioned
INF
/ Softball
UTIL
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
UTIL
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
INF
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
P
/ SoftballUtah Softball's Hailee White Feature
Tuesday, April 15
Utah Softball's Jolie Mayfield Feature
Friday, March 28
Utah Softball - The Inaugural 1976 Team
Wednesday, March 19
University of Utah Athletics - A Storied History
Friday, August 02