Non-Conference Softball Homestand Starts Against Weber State

SALT LAKE CITY – The University of Utah softball team will finish off its regular season non-conference schedule with a stretch of four straight home games, the first of which will pit them against the Weber State Wildcats on Wednesday at 5 p.m. at the Dumke Family Softball Stadium in Salt Lake City.
 
April 17 Schedule

 
How to Follow
Fan can tune in to the Pac-12 Network to catch all of Wednesday's action between the Utes and the Wildcats.
 
Game Day Promotions
It will be Wristband Wednesday at the ballpark, as well as this year's Unmuted Game and Faculty and Staff Appreciation Day. There will be $10 vouchers available for the first 35 staff members in attendance. Sonia Johnson from Utah Athletics Psychology & Wellness will be throwing out the first pitch to Utah's Kendall Lundberg to help promote Unmuted, a student-run campaign striving to end the stigma against mental health, raise awareness of the resources available on campus and bridge the gap between student-athletes and coaches regarding mental health.
 
Last Time Out
The Utes will be trying to extend a four-game win streak that started with a triumph over the Wildcats and includes their first Pac-12 sweep of the season. Coach Amy Hogue's club excelled in all areas against Arizona State and Hogue saw her hitters put up a .337 batting average and also draw 13 walks to push the team's on-base percentage for the series to .430.
 
Eight Utes made multiple starts against the Sun Devils and seven of those players posting averages above .300. The only exception was Julia Jimenez, who recorded three extra base hits, including a two-run homer in the series finale, and led the squad with five RBIs. Jimenez also homered when Utah visited Weber State on April 10 and drove in four runs. For the week, Utah's third baseman drove in nine runs and crafted a 1.071 slugging percentage.
 
In the circle last week, neither the Wildcats or the Sun Devils could figure out Mariah Lopez, who won all three of her starts and pitched to a 0.41 ERA over 17 1/3 innings. She also piled 20 strikeouts, one of which was the 500th of her career, making her just the fourth Ute to ever reach that benchmark. Lopez's performance earned her the Pac-12's Pitcher of the Week award and, after taking home two such awards in 2023, she's the first Ute to ever haul in one of those awards in multiple seasons.
 
Scouting the Opposition
The Wildcats will be attempting to break a five-game losing streak when they travel to Salt Lake City and that skid has dropped them to fourth in the Big Sky standings with only six conference matchups left on their schedule.
 
This will be the sixth time in the last seven seasons the Wildcats have paid a visit to the Dumke Family Softball Stadium. In 2023, they nearly pulled off an upset of the then-19th ranked Utes, taking a 4-3 lead into the bottom of the sixth before the Utes put the game away with a seven-run outburst. Among the stars for WSU on that day were Faith and Lauren Hoe, who both hit homers, and Madison Peterson, who held the Utes to three runs over the first five innings before Utah staged its comeback.
 
The last time the Wildcats won in Salt Lake City was in 2019, when they collected a 2-0 victory. The Utes own a 19-4 all-time record against their opponents from Ogden.
 
2024 Team Stat Leaders (as of 4/16/2024)

National Rankings

• Abby Dayton has maintained her spot at No. 5 in the nation in batting average at .472 and she's also tied for fourth in triples with six, ranks 16th in hits with 60 and 17th in on-base percentage at .537.
• Haley Denning's 62 hits put her in a tie for ninth in Division I and her .440 batting average has her in 25th. She's also swiped 20 bases, tied for 30th.
• Kaylah Nelsen's 14 doubles put her in a tie for 22nd nationally and she's also been the 14th toughest player in Division I to strikeout.
• Mariah Lopez has racked up 155 strikeouts, which puts her 13th in the country and her 15 wins are tied for 20th. She's also moved into the top 10 in innings pitched and starts.
• Utah's rate of 0.55 double plays turned per game puts them 15th in the NCAA and the Utes are tied for 40th in triples per game.

 Pac-12 Rankings

• Mariah Lopez has climbed into the top 10 in the Pac-12 in five different statistics. Her 155 strikeouts are the conference's second-most and she's tied for second in wins with 15. Lopez owns the league's highest totals in innings pitched, is tied for first complete games and her 2.50 ERA ranks seventh
• Abby Dayton has made herself at home atop the Pac-12's batting average rankings with a .472 clip to go with a conference-best .537 on-base percentage. She's also the league leader in triples with six, ranks third in hits with 60 and owns top 10 spots in runs and walks.
• Haley Denning's 39 runs scored, 62 hits, 20 steals and .440 batting average are all second-best in the Pac-12. She's also reached base to the tune of a .459 OBP, which places her ninth.
• No one in the Pac-12 has crossed home plate more than Aliya Belarde, who's collected 40 runs scored and she's also tied for second in the league with four triples and ranks sixth in hits.
• Kaylah Nelsen's 14 doubles have her alone in second on the conference leaderboard and she can also claim top 10 spots in hits and batting average.
• Julia Jimenez has taken advantage of her RBI opportunities to the tune of 38 runs batted, which ties her for fourth in the Pac-12.

 
Mariah Lopez Wins Third Career Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week Award
Mariah Lopez was honored for the third time in her career as the Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week on Monday, making her the first Utah pitcher to ever collect that award three times. For the week, Lopez pitched to a 0.41 ERA across 17 innings, held the opposition to a .175 average and piled up 20 strikeouts.
 
Belarde Takes Home Player of the Week Honors
Aliya Belarde became the first Ute honored with one of the Pac-12's weekly awards on April 8, taking home Pac-12 Player of the Week honors. Overall, the California native hit .733 in four games with five extra base hits, four RBIs and seven runs scored. She finished the week with a 1.267 slugging percentage.
 
Taylor Takes One Out
Taylor Jacobs stepped to the plate as a pinch-hitter on April 5 against Arizona and blasted solo home run to left field for her first base hit as a Ute. This is the second straight season a Utah player has homered for their first collegiate hit, as Karlie Davison accomplished that feat in 2023.
 
Coming Back is a Constant
The Utes have made a habit of staging comebacks of late and four of their last six wins have been of the come-from-behind variety. They eliminated a 7-2 deficit to defeat Oregon on March 16, followed by a 3-1 victory over BYU in which Utah trailed after five innings. The Utes then came back in both of their triumphs over California, the latter being Utah's sixth comeback win of 2024.
 
21 Straight Outs for No. 21
On March 3, Sarah Ladd threw just the fourth seven-inning perfect game in Utah history by retiring all 21 Utah Tech hitters she faced in a 5-0 victory. Ladd is the first Utah pitcher to accomplish that feat since Ali Andrus-Sagas in 1995 and the first Ute to throw a perfect game of any type since Miranda Viramontes in 2017. Overall, it goes down as the ninth perfecto in school history.
 
Haley's the Hit Queen
On March 3, Haley Denning picked up the 264th hit of her Utah career, making her the program's all-time leader in that statistic. She surpassed the previous record of 263, which was set by three-time All-American Hannah Flippen, who played for the Utes from 2014-17.
 
Denning remains within striking distance of the all-time Utah records for career runs scored and stolen bases as well. She needs 17 more runs scored to best that career mark and 15 more steals to surpass the mark currently owned by Sandy Rhea.
 
Mariah Lopez Sets a New Career-High
On March 4, Mariah Lopez racked up 15 strikeouts in a complete game win over Utah Tech, setting a new career-high high. She struck out the side twice in that appearance and fell only a single punchout short of matching the program record.
 
Preseason Placements
The Pac-12 released its annual preseason softball coaches poll and preseason all-conference team on Feb. 1 and Aliya Belarde, Haley Denning, Julia Jimenez and Mariah Lopez all earned all-conference nods, while the Utes were rated third in the league poll.
 
The Utes' placement in the preseason rankings represents their highest since joining the league, surpassing the fifth-place standing they achieved in 2017 and 2018, and the four preseason all-league honorees doubles the number the program attained in 2023.
 
Lopez Makes the Watch List
University of Utah softball's senior pitcher Mariah Lopez earned a spot on the USA Softball Player of the Year Top 50 Watch List, which was released on Jan. 24. Lopez is the first Ute to earn this distinction since Alyssa Barrera a was a player of the year watch list selection in 2018.
 
Senior Class
The 2024 season will be the last one in a Utah uniform for the program's eight-person senior class of Aliya Belarde, Stella Bennett, Haley Denning, Chloe Doyle, Sophie Jacquez, Julia Jimenez, Sarah Ladd and Mariah Lopez.
 
Five of those eight student-athletes have achieved all-conference status and both Denning and Jimenez can claim All-Pac-12 honors in multiple seasons.
 
Coaching Staff Additions
Two new faces have joined head coach Amy Hogue's staff for the 2024 campaign. Courtney Martinez comes to Utah from Iowa State and Kaija Gibson has donned Utah colors after spending two years with UCF.
 
Martinez spent six seasons with the Cyclones, helping the squad reset the program record for homers in a season three times and pile up 37 wins in 2019, the second-highest total in school history. She also helped tutor 2021 First-Team All-American Sami Williams.
 
Gibson, who not long ago was playing against the Utes with Washington, was part of two Golden Knights teams that won the AAC Tournament Championship to earn spots in the NCAA Tournament. In 2022, UCF rolled up 49 wins and Gibson and her colleagues were named the AAC Coaching Staff of the Year and the NFCA Midwest Region Coaching Staff of the Year.
 
Season Tickets
Season tickets for the 2024 campaign are now available. Fans can purchase season tickets by calling the Utah ticket office at 801-581-8849 or visit www.utahtickets.com/softball/.
 
Follow the Utes!
Fans can follow along on social media (Twitter: @Utah_Softball |Instagram: @utahsoftball | Facebook: Facebook.com/Utessoftball).