SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, May 26, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — San Diego State played the role of party crashers Friday night, silencing the Utes’ offense and a record crowd of more than 2,700 in the series opener for the first ever NCAA Super Regional at the University of Utah.
Utah uncharacteristically struggled to get on base against the Aztecs, managing just five hits in a 4-3 loss in the first game of the best-of-three series at Dumke Family Softball Stadium.
The loss snapped a nine-game winning streak for the Utes and marked their first setback since losing to UCLA back on April 30.
“Well, we didn’t play great today and we’ve been playing really great,” Utah head coach Amy Hogue said. “So [it was] bad timing to have a bad day out there.”
The Utes (40-14) now must win Game 2 at 3 p.m. Saturday to force a deciding third game Sunday and keep alive their hopes of advancing to the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
“We talked about it in the locker room that when our backs are against the wall, we have done really, really well,” Hogue said. “I like that, and it is absolutely backs-against-the-wall time. The game just needs to completely flip. We need to find our offense again, and the game flows from there. It was a rough start and we looked a little tight. The pressure got to us, and so [Saturday] we need to start hotter and then never stop for two days.”
Utah fell behind early, with a pair of first-inning errors helping San Diego State (39-15) jump ahead 2-0. The Aztecs returned the favor with a pair or errors in a three-run third inning that boosted Utah to a 3-2 lead.
Hogue said the game felt “a little bit fast to us early,” and despite settling down taking a lead in the second inning, the Utes struggled to get on base throughout the night.
“We didn’t put the ball in play the way that we’re used to,” Hogue said.
Utah’s defense kept the game close, and starting pitcher Mariah Lopez worked her way out of bases-loaded jams in the fourth and fifth innings. In all, the Aztecs left 11 runners on base.
“I put my team in a sticky position, and I knew we needed to get out of those innings clean in order to give them a better shot to score some runs at bat,” said Lopez, who pitched her third consecutive complete game in the loss.
The left-handed junior from Peoria, Arizona, allowed two earned runs on nine hits while striking out nine and walking six. It was the 15th complete game of the season and 22nd overall at Utah for Lopez.
“Honestly, with the amount of runners they had on base, it felt like they were beating us by a whole lot more,” Hogue said. “But we kept it close. Mariah did that [with] nine strikeouts and big moments, and kept giving our hitters a shot. It wasn’t our day.”
San Diego State pitchers Allie Light and Dee Dee Hernandez combined to allow just one earned run while striking out four and allowing no walks.
The Utes were unable to advance a runner past first base after the second inning.
“We did all those things not so great and still only lost by a run,” Hogue said. “I like our opportunity to make those adjustments [Saturday] and get back on that roll we’ve been on for quite a while.”
Despite the loss, Utah set a Dumke Family Softball Stadium attendance record of 2,723 and registered a sellout for the first time since 2017.
