March 2, 2012

Box Score

LOGAN, Utah - Utah State softball (6-7, 0-0 WAC) split a pair of games on Friday night in its opening day of the San Diego Classic I. USU defeated Big West foe Long Beach State, 10-1 in five innings its second game of the day and dropped its opener against San Diego, 4-0.

The Aggies found their offense early against LBSU, as they jumped out to an early 5-1 lead. Utah State scored its four first-inning runs after the first four batters for USU reached base. Sophomore outfielder Kassandra Uchida scored from third when senior infielder Kelley Kaneshiro drew a walk from starting pitcher Christian Carbajal.

Senior infielder Tatem Day delivered with a line-drive down the third base line that was mishandled by the third baseman, allowing two-runs to score. Freshman outfielder Hailey Froton scored the fourth run of the inning with a sac fly to right field that allowed Kaneshiro to cross the plate. Freshman utility fielder Jolene Koons, scored Day with a single that found its way through the infield pushing the score to, 5-1 after the first frame.

USU added to its lead in the bottom of the second when senior infielder Lindsey Marquez hit a sacrifice grounder back to the pitcher that scored sophomore outfielder Christina Cummings who reached earlier that inning on an fielding error by the 49ers, putting the Aggies up 6-1 at the end of two innings.

Utah State would put the game out of reach for Long Beach State when Marquez delivered a three-run home run in the bottom of the fourth. It was Marquez's fourth RBI of the game and her second home run of the season, which leads the team.

Freshman outfielder Amburlyn Orozco scored the final run of the night for USU when a ball bounced passed the catcher and found its way to the back-stop. The Aggies 10-1 win on Friday night was the largest-margin of victory for the team this season.

USU starting pitcher junior Shelbi Tyteca would settle in after giving up a run in the top half of the first inning and held the 49ers scoreless through the next five innings she pitched. Tyteca (4-2) earned her fourth win of the season which puts her two wins away from tying her career-high six, from last season.

In the first game of the night, San Diego defeated Utah State, 4-0. USD jumped out to an early advantage when it strung together three hits against USU starting pitcher, junior Mandy Harmon, in the bottom half of the opening frame.

Harmon would respond in the next three innings by not allowing another run to cross the plate and only surrendered two more hits in the game, allowing the Aggies to stay within striking distance of the Toreros.

Utah State looked to gain traction offensively against San Diego's starting pitcher Jenny Lahitte but failed to gain momentum against Lahitte who would only allow four hits in seven innings of work. USD would secure the win with a late two-run home run in the bottom of the six inning from Dana Prelsnik, off of Tyteca.

USU will continue play in the San Diego Classic I on Saturday as it takes on Cal Poly at 2:30 p.m. (MT), followed by a game against Cal State Northridge at 5 p.m. Live stats will be available through a Game Tracker link on the www.utahstateaggies.com home page for the match up with Cal Poly. There will be no live stats for the Cal State Northridge game.

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