Upcoming Event: Softball versus Utah Valley on October 2, 2025 at 4 p.m.
4 p.m.
Softball
vs Utah Valley
Sunday, April 21
Salt Lake City, UT
12 p.m.
University of Utah
27-17
5
vs
1
Idaho State
22-22
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
R
H
E
Idaho State
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
4
0
Utah
0
1
0
2
2
0
X
5
10
1
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Carreon, Brooklyn (1-0)
L: FITZGERALD, Taylor (7-7)
Batting:
2B: YEE, Alyssa 1 ; MCDONALD, Camryn 1 ; ROBISON, Olivia 1 ; KEARNS, Jenna 1
HR: ROBISON, Olivia 1 ; BROWN, Ava 1
RBI: MCDONALD, Camryn 1 ; ROBISON, Olivia 4 ; BROWN, Ava 2 ; KEARNS, Jenna 1
SF: MCDONALD, Camryn 1 ; BROWN, Ava 1
Base Running:
RUNS: YEE, Alyssa 2 ; MCDONALD, Camryn 2 ; ROBISON, Olivia 1 ; DUDLEY, Kennedy 1 ; BROWN, Ava 1 ; KEARNS, Jenna 1
Batting:
2B: Dayton, Abby 1 ; Davison, Karlie 1 ; Melendez, Leilani 1
3B: Denning, Haley 1
HR: Nelsen, Kaylah 1
RBI: White, Hailee 1 ; Denning, Haley 1 ; Dayton, Abby 1 ; Nelsen, Kaylah 1 ; Davison, Karlie 1 ; Passi, Shonty 1 ; Melendez, Leilani 3
SH: White, Hailee 1 ; Doyle, Chloe 1 ; Lee, Reese 1
SF: Davison, Karlie 1 ; Melendez, Leilani 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Denning, Haley 2 ; Dayton, Abby 1 ; Nelsen, Kaylah 1 ; Sakai, Sianni 1 ; Davison, Karlie 1 ; Passi, Shonty 2 ; Bennett, Stella 1 ; Lundberg, Kendall 1 ; Melendez, Leilani 1
SB: Denning, Haley 1 ; Dayton, Abby 2 ; Sakai, Sianni 1
CS: Denning, Haley 1
HBP: Jimenez, Julia 1 ; Jacobs, Taylor 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
2
H
3
RBI
1
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
3
R
2
H
2
RBI
1
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
INF
/ SoftballOF
/ SoftballUTIL
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
C
/ Softball
UTIL
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
OF
/ SoftballUTIL
/ Softball
Photo by: Eli Rehmer/Utah Athletics
Utah Softball’s Win Streak Reaches Seven with Sunday Sweep
4/21/2024 6:57 PM | Softball
Denning reaches two milestones as Utes top Idaho State, 5-1 and 11-8
SALT LAKE CITY – Haley Denning picked up the 300th hit of her career and broke the program's all-time record for career runs scored to help the Utes pull off a doubleheader sweep of the Idaho State Bengals by scores of 5-1 and 11-8 on Sunday afternoon at Dumke Family Softball Stadium in Salt Lake City.
The Utes have now won seven-in-a-row, matching their longest win streak of the season, to improve to 28-17, while Idaho State is 22-23.
"It's nice to be on a good size win streak going into the last two weeks of season," said coach Amy Hogue. "I think we have a few players who are starting to get hot and are playing their best ball of the year right now and Shonty is one of those players. She looked really good at the plate today, which was good, because we needed her.
"When we score runs at the bottom of the lineup and in our pinch-hit opportunities, then we are really hard to beat. I'm hoping we can keep that going."
GAME ONE
The Bengals tallied the first run of the day in the second inning thanks to a Kennedy Dudley home run, but a Kendall Lundberg RBI double in the bottom of the frame evened the score.
The score remained tied until the fourth, when Shonty Passi doubled and came across two batters later on a knock by Reese Lee and Abby Dayton upped the lead to 3-1 later in the stanza with an RBI single of her own. Utah doubled its lead in the fifth thanks to another Passi double that plated Shelbi Ortiz and a run-scoring safety through the middle off the bat of Sophie Jacquez.
After Idaho State's second-inning run, Mariah Lopez kept the visitors in check the rest of the way, permitting only four hits and one run over six innings. She also struck out seven without issuing a walk to pick up her 17th win of the season. Sarah Ladd logged the last three outs and the Utes were halfway to their sweep.
GAME TWO
The Bengals were once again the first team on the board, scoring twice in the opening frame, but Utah was again ready with a response and Denning lit the spark. She smacked a triple off the wall in center for what went down as the 300th hit of her Utah career, making her the first Ute to ever reach that milestone. This comes after Denning became the program's all-time hits leader in March.
Denning scored one batter later on a Dayton groundout, then Kaylah Nelsen drilled her first homer of the season to left to even the score. A Leilani Melendez sacrifice fly gave the home team the lead in the second, only for ISU to draw level in the top of the third.
The bottom of the third is when Utah took control and they started by retaking the lead when Denning crossed the plate on a wild pitch for the 198th run scored of her career, breaking the previous record held by Hannah Flippen. Karlie Davison soon followed with a sacrifice fly and Passi ripped a run-scoring single into left to put her team's edge at 6-3. Melendez then sent a two-run double into center and scored moments later to complete her squad's six-run uprising for a 9-3 advantage.
"I'm happy for Denning," said Hogue. "300 hits in a career is a lot! Plus, the most runs scored by a Utah softball player ever, that's amazing! She has worked hard for a lot of the year to have both of those things happen and I'm so proud of her."
The Bengals got two of those tallies back in the fifth, before the Utes used a successful squeeze play and a run-scoring hit from Denning to match that total in their half of the inning and make the score 11-5. Two more ISU runs crossed the plate in the sixth, but that's when Lopez arrived back in the circle to close the door. She recorded the last four outs, getting the final one with the tying run at the plate to ice her team's Sunday's sweep.
Up Next
The Utes will be at home on Wednesday to host the Baylor Bears at 6 p.m.
Follow the Utes!
Fans can follow along on social media (Twitter: @Utah_Softball |Instagram: @utahsoftball | Facebook: Facebook.com/Utessoftball).
The Utes have now won seven-in-a-row, matching their longest win streak of the season, to improve to 28-17, while Idaho State is 22-23.
"It's nice to be on a good size win streak going into the last two weeks of season," said coach Amy Hogue. "I think we have a few players who are starting to get hot and are playing their best ball of the year right now and Shonty is one of those players. She looked really good at the plate today, which was good, because we needed her.
"When we score runs at the bottom of the lineup and in our pinch-hit opportunities, then we are really hard to beat. I'm hoping we can keep that going."
GAME ONE
The Bengals tallied the first run of the day in the second inning thanks to a Kennedy Dudley home run, but a Kendall Lundberg RBI double in the bottom of the frame evened the score.
The score remained tied until the fourth, when Shonty Passi doubled and came across two batters later on a knock by Reese Lee and Abby Dayton upped the lead to 3-1 later in the stanza with an RBI single of her own. Utah doubled its lead in the fifth thanks to another Passi double that plated Shelbi Ortiz and a run-scoring safety through the middle off the bat of Sophie Jacquez.
After Idaho State's second-inning run, Mariah Lopez kept the visitors in check the rest of the way, permitting only four hits and one run over six innings. She also struck out seven without issuing a walk to pick up her 17th win of the season. Sarah Ladd logged the last three outs and the Utes were halfway to their sweep.
GAME TWO
The Bengals were once again the first team on the board, scoring twice in the opening frame, but Utah was again ready with a response and Denning lit the spark. She smacked a triple off the wall in center for what went down as the 300th hit of her Utah career, making her the first Ute to ever reach that milestone. This comes after Denning became the program's all-time hits leader in March.
Denning scored one batter later on a Dayton groundout, then Kaylah Nelsen drilled her first homer of the season to left to even the score. A Leilani Melendez sacrifice fly gave the home team the lead in the second, only for ISU to draw level in the top of the third.
The bottom of the third is when Utah took control and they started by retaking the lead when Denning crossed the plate on a wild pitch for the 198th run scored of her career, breaking the previous record held by Hannah Flippen. Karlie Davison soon followed with a sacrifice fly and Passi ripped a run-scoring single into left to put her team's edge at 6-3. Melendez then sent a two-run double into center and scored moments later to complete her squad's six-run uprising for a 9-3 advantage.
"I'm happy for Denning," said Hogue. "300 hits in a career is a lot! Plus, the most runs scored by a Utah softball player ever, that's amazing! She has worked hard for a lot of the year to have both of those things happen and I'm so proud of her."
The Bengals got two of those tallies back in the fifth, before the Utes used a successful squeeze play and a run-scoring hit from Denning to match that total in their half of the inning and make the score 11-5. Two more ISU runs crossed the plate in the sixth, but that's when Lopez arrived back in the circle to close the door. She recorded the last four outs, getting the final one with the tying run at the plate to ice her team's Sunday's sweep.
Up Next
The Utes will be at home on Wednesday to host the Baylor Bears at 6 p.m.
Follow the Utes!
Fans can follow along on social media (Twitter: @Utah_Softball |Instagram: @utahsoftball | Facebook: Facebook.com/Utessoftball).
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