Aggie Softball Splits Pair Saturday At Colorado State Tournament
March 3, 2007
FORT COLLINS, Colo. - After posting its first three-game win streak since 2005 with a 12-4 win over Northern Colorado, Utah State lost to Colorado State, 10-1 in five innings, Saturday at the double-round-robin Colorado State Softball Tournament at CSU's Ram Field at Fort Collins, Colo.
It was an unfriendly return to Fort Collins for USU head coach Candi Letts, who was the head coach at Colorado State from 1994-98, and has the highest winning percentage (.602 on 160 wins) in the program's history.
The Aggies improved to a slurpee-wielding convenience store record of 7-11, as the win was their third in a row over Northern Colorado in as many days. USU swept UNC, 6-5 and 5-4, in a doubleheader Thursday, before Friday's twinbill was cancelled due to cold, windy conditions.
"To put three wins in a row together is exciting for the team," Letts said. "It is hard to beat a team three times in a row, especially after Thursday's pair of one-run games. We just need to keep improving and we'll get more win streaks going."
USU is now 20-11 all-time vs. Northern Colorado and 25-15 against Colorado State.
Senior OF Ashley Bellum blasted a grand slam in the first game, part of her 2-4 outing with five RBI and two runs scored, adding a triple. Senior DH Jamie Fife was 2-3 with three runs scored while freshman RF Emily Reilly was 3-4 with two RBI and a pair of runs scored. Sophomore SS Tara Evans was 2-4, also with two RBI and two runs scored.
Senior Jessica Garnett got the win, pitching five and two-thirds while spraying eight hits, allowing four runs and logging one strike out, to get her first win of the season. Sophomore Lindsey Benson pitched the final inning and a third, striking out three.
Trailing 2-1, USU broke the game open with five runs in the top of the third to go up, 6-2, then added another run in the fifth. UNC plated two in the sixth before the Aggies hung a five-spot in the visitor's seventh.
"We struggled to put UNC away, " Letts said. "Even though it was 12-4, it was a lot closer game than the score indicates."
In the second game, Reilly led off the bottom of the first with an inside-the-park home run to knot the score at 1-all. Colorado State scored four in the top of the second and five more in the top of the fifth, and USU couldn't cut into the margin and the game ended after five innings due to the run rule.
Evans had USU's only other hit.
Senior Lexy Perry took the loss in the circle, being chased after two innings, yielding five runs on seven hits. Fellow senior Jill Bruins pitched three innings, also giving up five runs on seven hits.
"In the second game, we just weren't aggressive enough to win," Letts said. "CSU played real well and we just weren't aggressive enough."
USU will return to action Sunday against the same teams, but the scheduled has been flipped from Saturday's as the Aggies will take on the host Rams at 9:30 a.m. and the Bears of UNC at Noon.
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