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The University of Utah Athletics
Ute Softball Closes Regular Season Against In-State Rivals
5/10/2010 12:00 AM | Softball
May 10, 2010
Utah Valley and Deseret First Duel Game Notes 
The University of Utah softball team will conclude its regular season this week with a doubleheader at Utah Valley and its Mountain West Conference finale, a Deseret First Duel matchup against BYU.
The Utes will face Utah Valley in a pair of games Thursday beginning at 2:30 p.m. in Orem, Utah. Saturday's home game against BYU will start at 1 p.m., and will be televised live on The Mtn. The Utes will honor their four seniors in a postgame ceremony.
Utah is currently on a four-game losing streak now stands 24-28 overall and are 4-10 in MWC play, good for fifth place in the league standings.
Follow the Utes: Fans can follow the live stats of all three games this week by clicking on the `Gametracker' link on right-hand side of the softball schedule page at utahutes.com. Be sure to become a fan of Utah Softball on Facebook by searching University of Utah Softball. Also follow Ute Softball on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Utahsoftball.
Week in Review: The Utes went 0-3 during last weekend's MWC road trip to UNLV and San Diego State. Junior pitcher Brittany Parker (Murray, Utah) hit a two-out grand slam in the fourth inning but Utah lost 13-5 to UNLV in five innings on Thursday. Joni Cook (Eagle, Idaho) went 2-for-3 with a run scored and also started in the pitching circle but Utah fell 6-1 at San Diego State on Friday. Senior right-handed pitcher Ashley Smuda (Scottsdale, Ariz.) gave up only one sixth- inning run in her 13th complete game of the season but Utah suffered a 1-0 loss to the Aztecs on Saturday.
Doubling Up: The Utes have hit a school-record 77 doubles this season, besting the previous school-best mark of 75 set in 2008.
Utah cut its deficit in half Friday at San Diego State with back-to-back doubles to start the second inning. Cook led off the frame by hitting the first pitch she saw to right-center field for a two-base hit. Whitney Holm (Spanish Fork, Utah) then doubled to center field to drive Cook in for her 26th RBI of the season.
Foster Second on MWC HR List: Kara Foster (Derby, Kan.) began her term as the MWC's all-time leader in career home runs with her 62nd career homer April 29 against New Mexico. Unfortunately, she lost the crown about two weeks later. Foster hit the 63rd of her career April 30 against Colorado State but still remains second. Foster is also second in school history with 163 career RBI and is 12 shy of tying Cyndee Bennett (1994-97) for the school record.
Career Records Watch: Foster and Smuda are approaching the top five in seven different categories in the school's career record books.
Foster is listed in batting average (.333, .08 shy of No. 5), runs (145, 10 shy of No. 2), doubles (38, two shy of No. 5) and RBI (163, 12 shy of No. 1). Smuda is fourth in school history in appearances (118, 18 shy of No. 3) and strikeouts (422, 39 shy of No. 4). She is also close to entering the top five in wins (49, four shy of No. 5).
Ute Position-by-Position Notebooks
Infield Notebook: Third baseman Whitney Holm (Spanish Fork, Utah) collected a hit in Friday's 6-1 loss at San Diego State, an RBI double in the second inning to account for the Utes' only run. Senior first baseman Lindsey Palmer (Stansbury Park, Utah) went 1-for-3 as well.
Outfield Notebook: Postseason award candidate Hannah Clements (Poway, Calif.) is tied for second in the MWC with 15 doubles, tied for eighth with two triples, tied for ninth with five sacrifice bunts, and 10th with a .582 slugging percentage and a .451 on-base percentage. The sophomore left fielder is second on the team with a .350 batting average and is tied for the squad lead with eight multi-RBI games. She is also tied for third on team with 12 multi-hit games.
Foster has been a very versatile asset for the Utes this season, ranking among the top 10 in the MWC in several categories. She is tied for third in stolen bases (12-of-14), tied for fourth in home runs (10), fifth in total bases (93), tied for fifth in slugging percentage (.655), tied for sixth in runs scored (38), tied for eighth in RBI (34) and triples (2), tied for 10th in walks (21).
Foster leads the team with 16 multi-hit games this season and is tied for team high honors with eight multi-RBI games. Foster had a team-high 11-game hit streak from April 16 through May 1.
Catcher Notebook: Junior catcher Brooke Olson (Bluffdale, Utah) has started all 52 games behind the plate for the Utes this season. S he is tied for second in the MWC with 12 runners caught stealing, tied for third in steals (12), fifth in runs scored (40), sixth with 250 putouts, and 10th with 81 total bases.
Designated Player Notebook: Cook led all full-time Utah starters with a .444 batting average in Utah's three games at UNLV and San Diego State last weekend. Cook had four hits in nine at-bats, including a double and two runs scored. The Eagle, Idaho native also posted a .556 slugging percentage and a .444 on-base percentage.
Cook was one of six different Utes to go 1-for-2 against UNLV Thursday at Eller Media Stadium. On Friday against San Diego State, Cook went 2-for-3 with a run scored to lead the Ute offensive attack against the Aztecs. In Saturday's game at San Diego State, Cook singled up the middle to lead off the fourth inning and it was one of four hits the Utes got against the Aztecs.
Pitcher Notebook: In six innings impressive innings in the circle for the Utes, Smuda allowed just one run on only three hits while striking out four and walking one SDSU hitter Saturday in San Diego. With the hard-luck loss, Smuda's record fell to 19-14 this season.
Smuda was named the MWC Pitcher of the Week, the conference office announced April 27. It was her first award of the season and the fourth of her career
Smuda, a Scottsdale, Ariz., native, went 2-1 in three appearances with a pair of complete games last week. In 16.1 innings in the circle, Smuda struck out 13 while allowing eight earned runs, four walks and 20 hits.
Scouting Utah Valley and BYU
Utah Valley (27-36, 13-7 PCSC): The Wolverines have already earned the No. 1 seed for the Great West Conference tournament in mid-May by going 5-1 against Houston Baptist, South Dakota and North Dakota earlier this season in Dallas.
Shaylyn Varney is hitting .387 with 11 doubles, six home runs and two triples for a .664 slugging percentage to go along with 28 RBI. Cherylyn McGraw has a .382 batting average with eight doubles, three home runs and 30 RBI.
Starting pitcher Kyli Flanary is 11-10 with a 4.52 ERA in 124.0 innings this year.
Head coach Todd Fairbourne is in his 11th season at UVU.
In the last meeting between Utah and Utah Valley, Clements was 2-for-2 at the plate to lead the Utes to a 6-2 win April 19 against the Wolverines at Ute Softball Field. Utah scored at least one run in each of the first five innings of the game. Clements hit a triple, a double and scored two runs as well.
BYU (41-11, 11-3 MWC): The Cougars have won 11 of their last 12 games and will play at Utah Valley on Wednesday.
BYU leads the MWC in batting average (.338), slugging percentage (.570), on-base percentage (.420), runs scored (367), hits (485), RBI (348), doubles (81), home runs (79), total bases (817), walks (189), batters struck out looking (111), and putouts (1015).
Jessica Fitu and Caschjen Atagi hit back-to-back homeruns Monday to lift BYU to a 9-1 victory over Utah State in Logan. Paige Affleck gave up two hits and recorded her record-breaking 27th win of the season as BYU defeated San Diego State 2-1 in a classic pitcher's duel Thursday. Angeline Quiocho broke the BYU single-season homerun record Friday, belting three round trippers in an extra inning 8-7 loss to UNLV. Jessica Fitu highlighted a combined effort for BYU Saturday, going 3-for-5 with four RBI in a 14-8 victory over UNLV in Las Vegas.
Earlier this season, Parker struck out a season-high nine batters in her 12th career complete game and Holm went 2-for-3 with an RBI but Utah fell 4-1 April 9at Gail Miller Field. Holm had two hits and four RBI while Smuda lasted 5.2 innings but Utah was edged by BYU 6-5 April 10 in Provo, Utah. Holm slapped a three-run single in the first inning then lined a double to right field to drive in another run in the third frame.
Each softball game is worth 1.5 points in the 2009-10 Desert First Duel and BYU currently holds a 44-15.5 edge in all-sports standings. A team trophy will be awarded to the winner of each sport. The Utah-BYU rivalry is one of the oldest and strongest in the country. In November 2005, The Wall Street Journal rated the rivalry the fourth best in college athletics.
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