PLAY BALL!
Utah State softball (7-3, 0-0 Mountain West) continues its 2025 campaign this week at the Utah Tech-hosted Lyman Classic Tournament in St. George, Utah. Games will take place Feb. 21-23 at Utah Tech's Karl Books Field and at the Canyon Softball Complex. USU will face five different opponents, including UC San Diego, Weber State, San Diego, Utah Tech and Idaho State.
FOLLOW ALONG
Live stats for all of this weekend's games will be available via Sidearm Stats. Games against UC San Diego, San Diego and Utah Tech will be streamed for free on WAC International. Links and live updates will be available on the USU softball social media pages and through UtahStateAggies.com.
AGGIES VS THE FIELD
• This week's game will be the sixth all-time between Utah State and UC San Diego, the Tritons leading the series 3-2. The teams met twice in 2023 in Moraga, California, UCSD winning 1-0 and 7-0. USU's wins both came in 2021.
• Utah State has faced Weber State 59 times in program history, leading the series 40-19. The teams split four meetings last year, USU winning 3-2 on Feb. 16 and 4-2 on Feb. 18, then losing 5-4 on both Feb. 23 and Feb. 24. In neutral site games, the Aggies lead 12-4 all-time.
• USU and San Diego will meet for the third time this season and the 14th time in series history, the Torreros holding a narrow 7-6 edge in the series. USU won both meetings last week at the Cal Baptist Classic, defeating San Diego 5-3 and 6-3.
• Saturday's game will be the 11th all-time between Utah State and Utah Tech, the Trailblazers holding a 6-4 series lead. The teams met twice last season, both in St. George, the Aggies losing 3-2 on Feb. 25 then winning 9-5 on March 5.
• Utah State and Idaho State have faced off 50 times, the Aggies holding a 30-20 advantage in the series. The teams met just once last season, a 6-4 USU win in Logan. USU has won three-straight, and is 6-5 versus the Bengals in neutral site matchups.
ICYMI
Utah State had a 4-1 showing last week at the Cal Baptist Classic in Riverside, California. The Aggies opened the week with a 1-0 victory over Seattle, before defeating San Diego 5-3 and 6-3. The team's lone loss of the week was a 6-4 game against California Baptist, but it avenged the result the next day with a 7-3 win.
TURNING SOME HEADS
In this week's D1Softball Mid-Major Top 25 poll, Utah State check in at No. 11. The Aggies are one of four Mountain West teams included, joined by San Diego State (1), Nevada (9) and Boise State (16).
EXTRA CREDIT
Utah State senior outfielder Olivia Marble has specialized in extra base hits, with six of her 11 hits this year resulting in a double or better. She currently ranks 41st in the nation with four doubles, and seventh in the nation with two triples.
GOING THE DISTANCE
In four of Utah State's 10 games this year, a pitcher has taken the Aggies from start to finish. Juniors Rylie Pindel and Carly Limosnero each have two complete games to their names. Pindel threw 8.0 innings in the win over Purdue and 7.0 innings in the win over California Baptist, while Limosnero went 7.0 innings in wins over Baylor and Seattle.
RANKED DUB
On Feb. 8, Utah State earned its first victory over a ranked team since 2022 and first win over a top-20 side since 2010, defeating No. 19 Purdue 6-4. The Aggies jumped out to an early lead with a four-run first inning, then held on tightly to the lead the rest of the way.
Junior pitcher Carly Limosnero spent all seven innings in the circle for USU, allowing just two extra base hits in the game. Junior catcher Grace Matej was responsible for half of the team's runs, hitting three RBI singles in the contest.
Earlier in the week, USU led No. 7 Texas A&M through 5.5 innings, but an eight-run sixth from Texas A&M held off the upset.
CLUTCH HITTERS
In Utah State's win over Purdue on Feb. 9, the Aggies had their backs against the wall multiple times. In the bottom of the seventh in need of a run to survive, senior outfielder Olivia Marble hit a one-out RBI triple to even the game as senior outfielder Brooklyn Pritchett scored.
In the eighth inning, after three-straight outs for the Boilermakers, junior catcher Grace Matej hit a walk-off bases-loaded single to bring home junior infielder Kenzee Hale for the win.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Utah State junior catcher Grace Matej was named the Mountain West Player of the Week for the week ending Feb. 9.
At the Aggie Classic, Matej recorded at least one hit in all five games, going 9-for-18 (.500) at the plate with two doubles, five RBIs and four runs. She had three RBIs in the team's win over No. 19 Baylor, and hit the walk-off run in the bottom of the eighth inning against Purdue.
WELCOME BACK
Utah State returns seven starters in the field and 11 letterwinners from last year's squad, as well as two pitchers. All seven of the returning starters made 39 or more starts last season. USU's seven returning starters are the second-most in the Mountain West, behind only San José State (8).
NEW YEAR, NEW FACES
Utah State welcomes in 12 newcomers this season, including seven transfers and five freshmen. Transfer additions include senior infielder/catcher Lyndsey Madrigal (BYU), senior outfielder Olivia Marble (Abilene Christian), junior right-handed pitcher Emmalyn Brinka (Montana), junior infielder Kenzee Hale (College of Southern Idaho), junior right-handed pitcher Carlyn Limosnero (California Baptist), junior right-handed pitcher Rylie Pindel (SIUE) and sophomore right-handed pitcher Maren Berger (Texas Southern).
Incoming freshmen include infielder Alex Garcia (Folsom, California / St. Francis HS), infielder Justine Davidson (Farmington, Arkansas / Farmington HS), outfielder Faith Kroening (Phoenix, Arizona / Pinnacle HS), outfielder Rylee Turlington (Wittmann, Arizona / Willow Canyon HS) and catcher Jaelyn Castillo (Tucson, Arizona / Salpointe Catholic HS).
Additionally, USU added two new assistant coaches to the dugout. Marissa Schuld joins the Aggies as the team's assistant coach/pitching coach after an outstanding pitching career at Arizona State, while Shelby Thompson joins as an assistant coach after playing four years at UC San Diego.
NEW YEAR, NEW FACES - PT. II
Utah State's 12 newcomers are the second-most among Mountain West teams, only behind New Mexico (14) and UNLV (14).
PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE
A pair of Aggies were named to the preseason all-Mountain West team, as voted on by the league's coaches. Senior infielder Ariel Fifita and junior catcher/infielder Grace Matej were each honored.
Fifita enters her senior campaign with 123 career appearances and 116 starts under her belt through three years in Logan. She has totaled 104 hits in 342 at-bats, scoring 70 runs with 57 RBIs and totaling 11 doubles and 13 home runs. She has also recorded 177 career putouts with 213 assists.
Matej is coming off a sophomore campaign which saw her earn NFCA Pacific Region and all-Mountain West second team honors in 2024. During her career, she has totaled 84 hits and 40 RBIs in 75 games while making 66 starts. She has a career batting average of .370 (84-for-227). As a catcher, she has also tallied 161 putouts and 23 assists with just two errors in her career for a .989 fielding percentage.
INTO THE RECORD BOOKS
• Utah State catcher/infielder Grace Matej is coming off one of the best hitting seasons in program history. As a sophomore in 2024, Matej hit .405 with 54 hits in 131 at-bats. That batting average ranked second in the Mountain West last season and was the fifth-best for a season in Utah State history.
• Matej's .580 slugging percentage and 53 hits each fell just shy of cracking into the program's all-time top 10.
THAT BALL IS GONE-ZALEZ
After entering her junior campaign last season with just three career home runs, USU infielder Giselle Gonzalez found her way into the record book last season with 10 dingers, tied for the ninth-most in a single season in program history.
EXPERIENCED SQUAD
Of the 25 players on Utah State's roster this season, 16 are upperclassmen. This includes six seniors and 10 juniors.
NEW LOOK BULLPEN
The Aggie bullpen this season looks a little bit different after welcoming in four new pitchers from the transfer portal - juniors Emmalyn Brinka (Montana), Carly Limosnero (California Baptist) and Rylie Pindel (SIUE), and sophomore Maren Berger (Texas Southern).
USU does return its top pitcher from last season in junior Denay Smith, who led the team in ERA (3.71), innings pitched (83.0) and WHIP (1.71). It also returns junior Sydney Saldaña, who made seven appearances last season.
UP NEXT
Utah State will travel to Phoenix and Tempe, Arizona, next weekend for the Sun Devil Classic from Feb. 28-March 2. There, it will face first face Oregon State, Grand Canyon, UTEP, Arizona State and Seattle.
