Riverside, Calif. – Utah State softball (6-3, 0-0 MW) split a pair of games Saturday at the Cal Baptist Classic. The Aggies defeated San Diego 6-3 in the morning before falling to tournament host California Baptist in the afternoon at John C. Funk Stadium in Riverside.
Utah State 6, San Diego 3
The Aggies wasted no time getting things going in the first game of the day, putting a run on the board on just the third pitch of the contest when senior infielder
Ariel Fifita cleared the left field fence with a home run. Later in the inning, a double to center field from senior outfielder
Olivia Marble scored redshirt junior catcher
Kaylee Erickson from second and sophomore outfielder
Tatum Silva from third. The Aggies extended the first-inning lead to 4-0 when senior infielder
Giselle Gonzalez singled through the left side to bring Marble home.
In the third inning, USU tacked on another run, courtesy of a bases-loaded hit by pitch for Silva, which advanced Marble across home plate for the second time of the game. In the circle, junior right-hander
Emmalyn Brinka held the Torreros in check early, retiring the first nine San Diego batters in order and not allowing a hit until the fourth inning when a single followed by a double made it 5-1.
San Diego inched closer in the sixth inning, scoring runs on an RBI single and a wild pitch to make it 5-3, but USU added insurance in the seventh when Silva once again came up big, bringing freshman outfielder
Faith Kroening across the bag with a single to center field.
In total, the Aggies recorded a season-high 14 hits and left 14 players on base. The USU bags were left loaded three times. San Diego totaled eight hits. Fifita and Marble each recorded three hits, Fifita going 3-for-3 with a walk and Marble going 3-for-4 with two RBIs and a double.
Brinka spent the first 4.2 innings in the circle for Utah State, facing 20 hitters and allowing one earned run with a pair of strikeouts. Junior
Denay Smith entered in the fifth and pitched 1.1 innings, before junior
Rylie Pindel threw the seventh inning to earn the save.
Utah State 4, California Baptist 6
The second game of the afternoon started as a defensive battle, the sides combining for just three runs in the first five innings. Utah State struck first in the third with a solo home run, a shot over the left center field fence by Fifita. This was her second home run of the day, after hitting one in the morning against San Diego.
The Lancers evened the game with a solo home run in the third inning, then took the lead on an error in the fourth. They gained further separation in the sixth when four-straight hitters recorded RBIs to take a 6-1 lead.
USU fought back with its back against the wall in the seventh inning, using RBI doubles from junior outfielder
Kya Pratt and Fifita followed by a single from sophomore catcher
Grace Matej to pull within a couple of runs, but a pop out with the tying run at the plate ended the comeback attempt.
Junior right-hander
Carly Limosnero started in the circle and pitched the first 5.2 innings, allowing five earned runs while facing 30 batters. Sophomore
Maren Berger entered for the final out of the sixth inning.
Up Next
Utah State (6-3, 0-0 MW) will wrap up its five-game stint at the Cal Baptist Classic with a single game tomorrow, facing California Baptist at 12 p.m. (MT). The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
For more information on the Utah State softball program, follow the Aggies on Twitter at @USUSoftball, on Facebook at USUSoftball and on Instagram at ususoftball.
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