Feb. 20, 2003

CEDAR CITY, Utah - Utah State's softball team lost both games of its Thursday doubleheader at Southern Utah. The Thunderbirds beat the Aggies 5-3 in the first game and 10-2 in the second. Utah State is 1-6 against the Thunderbirds in the past two seasons and 54-10 all-time.

"Overall, we didn't have a very good day," said Utah State head coach Debbie Bilbao. "Until we learn to control some things, this is going to happen."

The Aggies played a close game in the first half of the doubleheader. Going into the bottom half of the fifth inning, the score was tied at three until back-to-back doubles gave the Thunderbirds a two-run advantage.

In the second game, the Aggies took the lead in the top of the first as Marcie Neff scored off an error. Utah State then gave up five runs in the bottom of the first. "We need to be a better attacking team," Bilbao said. "We got an early lead, but we have to keep pushing it."

Haven Vance hit 2-3 in the second game and 3-6 on the day with a double, a triple, two RBI and one run scored. Senior Aimee Johnson broke out of her hitting slump, going 2-4 in the first game with one RBI, her first hits of the season. Kelly Leos, who's leading the Aggies at the plate, was 2-5 on the day scoring two runs. Neff picked up her second steal of the season.

Next week, the Aggies travel to St. George, Utah for the Red Desert Classic Feb. 28-March 2.

ResultsGame 1SOUTHERN UTAH 5, UTAH STATE 3USU -   021 000 0   -   3   7   0SUU -   120 020 X   -   5   7   1Higley and Carlson; Jones, Brown (3) and Hardy. W- Brown (2-3), L- Higley (0-3).E - Gallo. DP - Utah State 1; So. Utah 1. LOB - Utah State 6; So. Utah 5.2B - (USU) Carlson; (SUU) LePrey, Johnson, Cox. HBP - (USU) Leos. SH - Fleming.SB - (USU) Marcie Neff, (SUU) Cox.
Game 2SOUTHERN UTAH 10, UTAH STATE 2USU -   101 000 X   -   2   5   1SUU -   503 011 X   -   10  11  2Baumgartner and Fleming; LePrey and Heineman. W - LePrey (2-2), L - Baumgartner (0-3).E - Vance; Tillery; Johnson. DP - So. Utah 1. LOB - Utah State 9; So. Utah 7. 2B - (USU) Vance.3B - (USU) Vance. HR - (SUU) Cox. HBP - (USU) Johnson. SH - (SUU) Tillery.SF - (SUU) Howerton. SB - (USU) Smith;  (SUU) LePrey, Gutierrez.