PLAY BALL!
Utah State softball (7-3, 0-0 Mountain West) continues the non-conference portion of its 2026 campaign this week at the Georgia Classic, held at Turner Softball Stadium in Athens, Georgia. USU will play five games across three days from Feb. 20-22, facing No. 20 Virginia Tech, along with two games against each No. 12 Georgia and Seton Hall.
FOLLOW ALONG
Live stats for all of this weekend's games will be available via StatBroadcast. Games against Georgia will be streamed on SEC Network+. Links and live updates will be available on the USU softball social media pages and through UtahStateAggies.com.
AGGIES VS THE FIELD
• Thursday's game will be the first all-time meeting between Utah State and Virginia Tech.
• USU and Georgia have met three times previously, the Bulldogs winning two of those. The most recent meeting between the sides was in 2012 in Athens, Georgia winning a five-inning game 8-0.
• Utah State has faced Seton Hall twice, winning both contests. The Aggies won the first contest in 2007 7-4 in Las Vegas, then defeated the Pirates 8-0 in six innings in 2020 in Lake Elsinore, California.
ICYMI
Utah State is coming off of a 3-2 showing last weekend in Riverside, California, at the Cal Baptist Classic. There, the Aggies defeated Saint Francis 5-4 in eight innings, beat Cal State Bakersfield 7-2, split a pair of games against Hawaii with a 5-1 win and a 16-8 six-inning loss, and fell to Loyola Marymount 6-3 in eight innings.
Senior infielder Alex Bunton led the Aggie bats with a .474 (9-for-19) week at the plate with two double, a home run, a team-best seven RBIs and three runs scored across the five games.
HAVE SOME FAITH!
Utah State sophomore outfielder Faith Kroening is having a major breakout season. After playing primarily as a pinch runner in 2025, totaling just four hits in 30 at-bats for a .133 batting average, Kroening has started all 10 games this season and ranks second on the squad with a .455 batting average (15-for-33).
EXTRA CREDIT
Entering the weekend, Utah State ranks 18th in the country in doubles per game with 2.40. The Aggies have totaled 24 doubles in 10 games, with six different players hitting three or more. Alex Bunton leads the team with five.
OPENING WEEK WARRIORS
Utah State opened its 2026 campaign with a strong start Feb. 5-7 at the Texas A&M-hosted Aggie Classic, going 4-1 with two wins over Abilene Christian, a win over Bryant and a win over Providence. The team's lone loss came to No. 11 Texas A&M.
On the week, USU held four of its five opponents to two runs or fewer and out-scored them by a combined 21-13.
AGGIE ARMS
The Utah State pitching staff showed out during opening week.
• Senior Emmalyn Brinka pitched two complete games, earning a shutout vs Abilene Christian and a near-shutout vs Providence while throwing a career-high nine strikeouts. She also earned a save in the second contest against ACU. On the week, she pitched 14.0 innings, allowing just a single run for a 0.50 ERA with 17 strikeouts and just five hits allowed.
• Senior Rylie Pindel threw 6.2 scoreless innings against Bryant before allowing a single run in a complete game performance.
• Freshman Kendall Cochran was strong in her collegiate debut, throwing 5.2 innings with six strikeouts and just three hits allowed against Abilene Christian.
WELCOME BACK
Utah State returns four starters in the field and 12 letterwinners overall from last year's squad, including four pitchers. All four returning starters in the field are seniors this season — outfielder Kya Pratt, infielder Alex Bunton and catchers Grace Matej and Kaylee Erickson.
NEW YEAR, NEW FACES
Utah State welcomes in 10 newcomers this season, including two transfers and eight true freshmen. Transfer additions include junior infielder Keely Goushá (Boise State) and freshman infielder Kate Vance (Arizona).
Incoming freshmen include utility player Ryan Pead (Saratoga Springs, Utah / Westlake HS), left-handed pitcher Jordyn Lish (Modesto, Calif. / Fred C. Beyer HS), catcher/infielder Sofia Trejo (Tucson, Arizona / Tucson Magnet HS), right-handed pitcher Kendall Cochran (Mesa, Arizona / Red Mountain HS), infielder/outfielder Jakobi Nebeker (Pocatello, Idaho / Pocatello HS), outfielder/infielder Haylee Lopez (San Tan Valley, Ariz. / Poston Butte HS), catcher/utility player Hailey Holliday (Scottsdale, Ariz. / Saguaro HS) and infielder/right-handed pitcher Jazmin Ramirez (Chandler, Ariz. / Hamilton HS).
Additionally, USU added two new assistant coaches to the dugout. Jared McDonald, a former Arizona State and professional infielder, joins the Aggies as an assistant coach, as does former UCLA pitcher Jada Cecil.
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 catcher Grace Matej and senior outfielder Kya Pratt were each honored.
Matej is a two-time all-MW honoree and also earned NFCA Pacific Region Second Team honors in 2024. As a junior last season, she played in and started 50 of the team's 52 games, posting a .327 batting average while going 53-for-162 at the plate. She totaled 11 doubles on the year, with a triple and 10 home runs, while her 36 runs scored rank tied for seventh most in a season in program history.
Pratt had a breakout season as a junior in 2025 to earn all-Mountain West first team accolades. She started 46 games while making 49 appearances, ranking fifth on the squad with a .363 batting average as she went 49-for-135 at the plate. Pratt recorded 11 doubles and nine home runs last season, totaling 34 RBIs and 21 runs scored while drawing 11 walks and recording a .423 on-base percentage with a .644 slugging percentage, 10th-best in the Mountain West.
A SEASON FOR THE AGES
Utah State had a historic offensive season in 2025, shattering several long-standing program records.
The Aggies set program records for batting average (.340), hits (493), runs (340), doubles (90), home runs (66), runs batted in (319), total bases (807), slugging percentage (.557), walks drawn (181), hits by pitch (50) and on-base percentage (.428).
A SEASON FOR THE AGES - PT. II
Last year's Utah State squad set not just program records, but etched its name into the Mountain West record books in a few different categories.
USU's .609 slugging percentage in league games in 2025 ranked fourth in league history. The team's .341 overall batting average ranks fifth, while its .442 on-base percentage ranks tied for fifth.
A BIG ADDITION
One of Utah State's key additions this season is freshman infielder Kate Vance. A two-time first-team prep All-American, Vance was ranked the No. 6 recruit in the country in the 2024 class and the No. 3 infielder in the class by Extra Inning Softball. She signed and enrolled at Arizona in 2025, but left the team following the fall season.
ON THE RISE
In the team's second season under head coach Todd Judge in 2025, the Aggies had one of their most successful campaigns in recent history. USU's 26 wins ranked as the third-most in a season since 1997. The only Aggie teams with more during that span were 2022 (28 wins) and 2017 (33 wins).
Utah State also qualified for its first-ever Mountain West Conference Tournament (the league didn't hold conference tournaments from 2007-22).
UP NEXT
Utah State will travel to Saint George, Utah, next week for the Beehive Classic from Feb. 27-March 1. There, the Aggies will face four in-state opponents across five games in three days, with two games against Utah Valley, and single games against Southern Utah, Utah and Utah Tech.
