PLAY BALL!
Utah State softball (15-9, 0-0 Mountain West) begins the Mountain West portion of its 2024 campaign this week with a three-game series in San Diego, California. The Aggies are set to face reigning Mountain West Tournament champions San Diego State on Friday, March 15, at 7 p.m. (MT), Saturday, March 16, at 5 p.m. (MT), and Sunday, March 17, at 1 p.m. (MT). 
 
FOLLOW ALONG
Live stats for all of this weekend's games will be available via StatBroadcast, while each game will also be streamed on the Mountain West Network. Links and live updates will be available on the USU softball social media pages and through UtahStateAggies.com
 
AGGIES VS AZTECS
• Utah State and San Diego State have met up 39 times in a series dating back to 1982. The Aztecs hold a 27-12 series advantage, including a 16-4 lead over the Aggies in San Diego.  
 
• Last season in Logan, the Aztecs took two of the three games during the regular season series. SDSU began the weekend with a 13-0 six-inning win, before USU bounced back to take game two 5-4. San Diego State won the final game 6-3. 
 
• The Aztecs enter the weekend 13-11 overall, and are also opening MW play this week. In 2023, SDSU went 39-17 overall, including a 16-6 mark in league play to finish the season second in the Mountain West before going on to win the league tournament. The team returned seven starters and 10 letterwinners, while welcoming in eight newcomers this year. 
 
ICYMI
• Utah State played its final tournament of non-conference play last weekend at the Louisville Slugger Invitational in Long Beach and Fullerton, California. The Aggies had a perfect 5-0 week with wins over Fairfield (8-1) and North Dakota (2-0) on Friday, Yale (9-1) and Toledo (3-2 (8)) on Saturday, then wrapped up play at Long Beach State with a win (4-2 (8)) on Sunday. 
 
• Five different Aggie pitchers saw time in the circle, with redshirt sophomore Denay Smith earning three wins, and sophomores Tess Bumiller and Hailey McLean each earning one win. Smith pitched a team-high 11.2 innings, allowing four runs and posting three strikeouts. The Aggie pitching staff posted a combined 0.49 ERA during the tournament. 
 
• Freshman outfielder Tatum Silva led the Aggie bats with a .438 (7-for-16) batting average during the tournament with five runs and two RBIs.  
 
AGGIES IN MW OPENERS
Since joining the Mountain West in 2013, the Aggies have gone a combined 14-13 in conference-opening series, including a 5-1 record the past two years. Last season, USU opened league play at home with a 2-1 start against New Mexico. 
 
PITCHER OF THE WEEK
• After an outstanding stretch of games on the mound last week, Utah State senior Jessica Stewart was named the Mountain West Pitcher of the Week. 
 
• While helping the Aggies to an undefeated week, Stewart made four appearances and posted a perfect 0.00 ERA in 8.2 total innings. Against Toledo, she started the game and pitched 6.0 innings without allowing a run. She entered in relief against North Dakota in the bottom of the seventh with bases loaded to earn the final out and secure the win. She closed out the weekend by entering in the bottom of the eighth inning against Long Beach State and earning the final two strikeouts. In total, she allowed just five hits while earning six strikeouts.
 
LIGHT THE A BLUE
• Entering the weekend with a 15-9 record, Utah State is off to its best start to a season since 2017 when the team started 23-9. Prior to that, the last time USU started a year 15-9 or better was back in 1986. The Aggies are already just three victories from matching last year's win total of 18. 
 
• USU is currently on a seven-game winning streak, its best since 2022. 
 
LOCKING IT DOWN
The Aggie defense was on full display during the team's 5-0 showing at the Louisville Slugger Invitational, as Utah State allowed just six combined runs in five games. The Aggie pitching staff posted a combined 0.49 ERA during the tournament.
 
PITCH PERFECT
In 2023, the Utah State pitching staff ranked sixth in the Mountain West with a 4.96 combined ERA. This season, Aggie pitchers have combined for an ERA of 2.38, second-best in the Mountain West. Individually, redshirt sophomore Denay Smith leads the league and ranks 39th nationally with a 1.15 ERA, while senior Jessica Stewart ranks fourth in the MW with a 1.66 ERA. Stewart also ranks tied for fourth in the nation this season with four saves. 
 
MOUNTAIN BEST
As conference games begin this weekend, the Mountain West is off to one of its best starts in recent years. Seven of the nine teams have a winning record to this point, while San José State is just a game back of .500. Last season, just four MW teams had a winning out of conference record. 
 
FRESHMAN FIREPOWER
The freshman trio of outfielder Tatum Silva, infielder Emerson Meggers and catcher Zereniti Sousa has played a big role in Utah State's success this season. Silva has started 17 games in center field this season and boasts a .333 (19-for-57) batting average, fifth-best on the team. Meggers has made 20 appearances in 24 games for USU, while Sousa is hitting .353 (6-for-17) on the year, including a .500 (3-for-6) showing last weekend. 
 
FIFITA ON FIRE
Utah State junior infielder Ariel Fifita is off to an extremely strong start to the year, currently leading the Aggies in batting average at .397 (27-of-68). Fifita has been walked nine times this year, second-most on the team, and has hit leadoff for the Aggies in the past 19 games. 
 
KEEPING IT CLOSE
Close games have been a theme early in the season for Utah State. Fourteen of the team's 24 games games have been determined by two or fewer runs, while the Aggies are 7-7 in those games. Seven of the team's nine losses have been by just a single run.
 
WARMING UP
Utah State junior infielder Giselle Gonzalez had an outstanding weekend for the Aggies at the Utah Tech Classic. In the final three games of the tournament she hit .636 (7-of-11) with three home runs and two doubles, including home runs in back-to-back innings against Eastern Kentucky. She also had six RBIs and four runs. 
 
THE MAGIC NUMBER
When allowing two or fewer runs this season, Utah State is 13-1. When allowing three or more runs, the team is 2-8.