PLAY BALL!
Utah State softball (0-0, 0-0 MW) opens its 2022 campaign this weekend at the Campus Diamond Kickoff in Santa Barbara, California. USU will begin the tournament on Friday, Feb. 11, with games against North Dakota State and UCSB at 10:30 a.m. (MT) and 3 p.m. (MT), respectively. On Saturday, Feb. 12, USU will face NDSU and UCSB at 10:30 a.m. (MT) and 12:45 p.m. (MT), respectively. And on Sunday, Feb. 13, USU will play NDSU at 10 a.m. (MT). All-time, the Aggies are 3-2 against the Bison and 33-27 against the Gauchos.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
Fans are allowed at this weekend's tournament and are encouraged to purchase tickets in advance. Tickets can be purchased at ucsbgauchos.com/tickets/Softball/Campus_Diamond_Kickoff. Games against UC Santa Barbara will be streamed on ESPN+ and live stats will be available via StatBroadcast. Links and live updates will be available on the USU softball social media pages.
 
AGGIES AT A GLANCE
Utah State returns seven starters and 11 letterwinners, to go along with two pitchers, from last year's team that posted a 14-30 record, including a 4-17 mark in Mountain West play. Highlighting USU's returners is sophomore third baseman Zaia Castruita, who earned first-team all-MW honors last year. Steve Johnson is 158-221 in his ninth season as USU's head coach.  
 
AGGIES VS. BISON
Utah State is 3-2 all-time against North Dakota State, all of which have been neutral site contests. USU has won each of the last two matchups with a 2-1 (8) victory on Feb. 10, 2017, and a 6-4 win on Feb. 12, 2011.
 
AGGIES VS. GAUCHOS
USU leads the all-time series 33-27 against UC Santa Barbara. However, the Gauchos have come out victorious in the last two meetings with an 8-0 (6) victory on March 6, 2020, as well as on March 13, 2014. 

LEADING OFF
This weekend marks the opening of the 2022 season for Division I softball. All-time, Utah State is 25-21 in its season openers. Last season, the Aggies went 0-4 in their opening weekend at the Easton Invitational.
 
MAKING A NAME FOR HERSELF
Sophomore third baseman Zaia Castruita was named first-team all-Mountain West as a freshman in the 2021 season. She played in and started all 44 games, while batting a team-high .315 with 41 hits in 130 at-bats. Castruita registered multiple hits in 12 games, finishing the year with five doubles, a team-best two triples and two home runs. She hit a grand slam against San Diego State (April 25), recording five RBIs in the game. Castruita finished her freshman campaign with 15 runs and batted in 17, while also leading the team with a .357 on-base percentage. Defensively, Castruita recorded 61 putouts and 86 assists with a .980 fielding percentage
 
A'INT LIFE GRAND?
Utah State hit three grand slams during the 2021 season, the most by an Aggie team in program history. Then-senior third baseman Kennedy Hira hit the first with a walk-off grand slam against Fresno State (March 28). USU then recorded two grand slams in the same week, as then-junior shortstop Lexi Orozco hit one at Utah Valley (April 21) and then-freshman second baseman Zaia Castruita had one against San Diego State (April 25). 
 
A MERE THREE GRAND
With her grand slam at Utah Valley (April 21), shortstop Lexi Orozco became the all-time leader in program history with three grand slams in her career. Orozco hit two as a freshman in 2019. She is one of four known Aggies to hit more than one grand slam in program history.
 
OUT OF THE PARK, INTO THE RECORD BOOKS
Two Aggies earned spots on the single-season record list with 10 home runs in 2021 to tie for seventh all-time in first baseman/catcher Gabriella Jimenez and shortstop Lexi Orozco. Orozco previously set the program record for home runs in a single season with 13 homers in 2019.
 
CLIMBING UP THE RECORD LIST
Senior shortstop Lexi Orozco sits in the top-10 of several USU career record lists as she ranks second in slugging percentage (.607), third in career home runs (27) and seventh in runs batted in (92). 
 
MULTIPLE MULTIPLES
In last season's 15-7 win over Montana (Feb. 20), catcher/first baseman Gabriella Jimenez hit three home runs, while shortstop Lexi Orozco hit two. It marked the first time a USU player hit multiple home runs in a game since Orozco hit two against Fresno State on April 20, 2019. It also marked the first time multiple Aggies hit multiple home runs in the same game since April 7, 2010, when Kelley Kaneshiro and Simone Hubbard each hit two in an 18-8 loss to Hawai'i.
 
It would not be Orozco's only two home run outing of the season as she homered twice in the 5-4 season finale victory over New Mexico (May 15). 
 
DOUBLE VISION
You're not seeing double, there is a set of identical twins on the Utah State roster. Wearing number 41, Makenzie Macfarlane is a catcher and first baseman. Mazie Macfarlane, an outfielder, wears number 15. The duo are mirror image twins, with opposite features. For example, Makenzie is right-handed, while Mazie is left-handed. 
 
CALIFORNIA CONNECTION
Fourteen of the 21 Aggies on the 2022 roster have come to Utah State from California in seniors Gabriella Jimenez (Sacramento), Bri Lerma (Downey), Lexi Orozco (San Marcos) and Emily Tidd (Temecula), juniors Makenzie and Mazie Macfarlane (Rocklin), sophomores Zaia Castruita (Chula Vista) and Jessica Stewart (Salinas), and freshmen Taryn Edds (Anaheim), Giselle Gonzalez (San Diego), Ariel Lopez (San Marcos), Claudia Medina (West Sacramento), Claire Raley (Clovis) and Mia Reynolds (Tulare).
 
HOME GROWN
Utah State has five players from the state of Utah in senior Kapri Toone (Tremonton), juniors Nya Laing (Logan) and Tyler Thornton (Millville),sophomore Libbie Hawker (Bountiful) and freshman Emily Dority (South Jordan). 
 
UP NEXT
Utah State will next travel to St. George, Utah, to take on Dixie State (0-0, 0-0 WAC) from Feb. 19-20. The Aggies will first face the Trailblazers in a doubleheader on Saturday, Feb. 19, at noon and 2:30 p.m. The teams will then face each other on Sunday, Feb. 20, at noon. 
 
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