Hosting the Southern Utah University Thunderbirds to open Western Athletic Conference play March 27-28, the Utah Tech University softball team recorded a 2-1 series victory.
Game 1
The series got underway March 27 with a doubleheader, as the Trailblazers broke out the bats early and never looked back in the series opener.
A seven-run second inning saw UT take a big lead, as the scoring started with a Summer Sanderson solo home run.
Baylee Howley followed with a run-scoring double before a Lauren Jones RBI base hit made it 3-0.
Naya Taylor then stepped up and smacked a double down the left field line, making it 5-0 as two runs scored.
An RBI single from Lakaiya-Braessia Kahahawai-Kekona and a Sanderson sac fly made it 7-0 before the Thunderbirds would finally put an end to the inning.
The Trailblazers added three more runs in the fourth, making it a 10-0 score.
With the mercy rule in effect, Utah Tech starting pitcher Sauren Garton made quick work of SUU in the top of the fifth to secure the big win.
Garton tossed a gem in the circle for the Trailblazers, recording the shutout while allowing four hits and striking out four.
Game 2
Following a loss in the series opener, the Thunderbirds came out and took a 5-0 lead through the top of the third inning.
Despite the early deficit, the Trailblazers scratched across two runs in the bottom of the third, cutting the deficit to 5-2.
Utah Tech continued to produce at the plate in the fourth frame, as five runs crossed the plate and Kennedy Embrey crushed a grand slam to put UT ahead, 7-5.
The Trailblazers would make it 9-5 with a pair of runs in the fifth, before a pair of hits and a walk in the sixth sent Kinley Pappas to the plate.
On a 2-1 pitch, Pappas would crush a ball over the center field wall for a walk-off grand slam to give Utah Tech a 13-5 run-rule victory.
“It feels really good, I think we just executed and played as a team,” Pappas, a sophomore exercise science major from Eugene, Oregon, said after the doubleheader sweep.
Over the two games, UT compiled 26 hits and 23 runs to win its first conference series of the season.
“Getting both of them today was huge,” Trailblazers’ head coach Randy Simkins said.
“Scoring early and putting some runs on the board in that first game really helped us settle down. And then the second game, we gave up five runs early and didn’t play well. But our dugout knew, if we swing at good pitches and we’re on time, we’ll be able to string some together,” he added.
While Pappas was her usual self at the plate, Embrey, who entered with just 11 starts on the year, totaled five hits and five RBI.
“I was feeling really good,” Embrey, a sophomore from Farmington, said of her big day at the plate.
“I was just going into it having confidence and just knowing I was going to do well, and it worked,” she added.
Utah Tech and Southern Utah would face off one more time March 28, where the Thunderbirds would claim a 12-4 result to avoid the sweep.
With the 2-1 series win, the Trailblazers’ record is now 13-21 overall and 3-3 in WAC play.
Utah Tech now hits the road to battle California Baptist University in a three-game series April 3-4.
This article was originally written for Utah Tech’s student newspaper, Sun News Daily.
Photo credit: Brooklyn Fehr, Utah Tech Athletics.
