PLAY BALL!
Utah State softball (0-0, 0-0 Mountain West) officially begins its 2025 campaign this week at the Texas A&M-hosted Aggie Classic, at the Davis Diamond in College Station, Texas. USU will play five games across four days from Feb. 6-9, facing Villanova, No. 7 Texas A&M, Abilene Christian, No. 19 Baylor and Purdue.
FOLLOW ALONG
Live stats for all of this weekend's games will be available via StatBroadcast, with a video stream available on ESPN+ for just the Texas A&M game. 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 games will be the first all-time matchup between Utah State and both Villanova and Abilene Christian.
• Utah State has faced Texas A&M 20 times in program history, trailing 13-7 in the series. Texas A&M has won each of the past five meetings between the sides, including an 8-0 five-inning win in the most recent showdown in 2010 in College Station.
• USU and Baylor have met eight times previously, the Aggies holding a 6-2 series advantage. The most recent meeting went Baylor's way, a 6-5 win for the Bears in 2015.
• Utah State and Purdue have played each other five times, with the Aggies leading the all-time series 3-2. Most recently, the teams squared off in 2013, a 2-1 neutral site win for the Boilermakers.
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.
KEEPING IT CLOSE
Close games were a theme throughout season for Utah State in 2024. 26 of the team's 50 games last year were determined by two or fewer runs, while the Aggies went 12-14 in those games. Twelve of the team's 28 losses were by just a single run.
HOT STARTS
Strong starts were one of Utah State's strengths last season, as the Aggies outscored opponents by a combined 56-40 in first innings. Utah State scored first 26 times and scored in the first inning 25 times.
THE MAGIC NUMBER
When allowing five or fewer runs in 2024, Utah State went 22-8. When allowing six or more runs, the team went 0-20.
OUT OF THE GATES
Utah State got off to a strong start to the year in 2024, winning 15 of its first 24 games. In total, the Aggies went 17-11 against non-Mountain West opponents, its most non-conference wins since 2017.
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 the Golden State for the Cal Baptist Classic in Riverside, California, from Feb. 14-16. There, it will face first face Seattle, then take on San Diego and California Baptist twice each.
