April 29, 2001
LOGAN, Utah - Utah State's softball won its first conference series since defeating Cal Poly two games to one a year ago with a 5-3 come from behind win over UC Santa Barbara Sunday.
USU opened the days scoring in the first inning when junior Breanne Nickle singled to rightfield to bring in Heather Curtis who had reached base on a double to center and advanced to third on a single by Shannon Acevedo.
The Aggie defense held the Gauchos scoreless for five innings and then UCSB stepped up offensively scoring three runs in the top of the sixth. Julia Tamai brought in the Gauchos first run on a single that score Davis Beck. UC Santa Barbara's Stacy Bolton then stepped to the plate and hit a 2 RBI homerun over the centerfield wall to put UCSB up 3-1.
Utah State came back in the bottom of the sixth to score four runs and rip the victory away from the Gauchos. Casey Smith started the Aggies march belting a single to centerfield. Next Curtis reached first on an error and Shannon Acevedo followed with a single to load the bases. Nickle reached on a fielder's choice as Smith crossed the plate for USU. Stephanie Vasarhely then blasted a single to rightfield to bring in two runs and give USU the lead. Kara Tarbet then grounded out to the second baseman allowing Nickle to score the Aggies final run before danielle Rodriguez grounded out to second base to end the inning.
Lisa Spencer held the Gauchos off in the seventh inning and came away with her sixth win of the season. Spencer recorded one strikeout and allowed just one hit in 1.1 innings on the mound. Xochitl Ramirez pitched 5.2 innings for the Ags and had four strikeouts.
Now 11-36 on the year and 5-13 in the Big West Conference Utah State will close out the season Sat.-Sun., May 5-6 with a three-game conference series against eighth-ranked Cal State Fullerton. USU and CSUF will play a double-header on Saturday and a single-game Sunday. Games will begin at 2 p.m. on both days.
UTAH STATE 5, UC SANTA BARBARA 3UCSB - 000 003 0 - 3 10 2USU - 100 004 X - 5 11 0WP - Lisa Spencer, USU, LP - Katie Junge, UCSB, 2B - Heather Curtis, USU, EJ Lauchland, Davis Beck, UCSB.
