No. 15 Utah Softball Clips No. 21 Cal, 7-6

Friday, April 7

Salt Lake City, Utah

12:00 PM

University of Utah

25-7, 0

California

22-12, 0

California

Utah

4/7/2017 3:15 PM | Softball

Box Score

Bowen's bullet in sixth seals win for Utes

SALT LAKE CITY – No. 15 Utah Softball struggled at times but got a big double from Heather Bowen to come away with a 7-6 win over No. 21 Cal this afternoon.

After Hannah Flippen singled to start the sixth in a tie game, a sac bunt moved the senior to second. Bowen connected on a bullet to center for a double and deciding run

The junior third baseman, along with Flippen, finished with a pair of hits and drove in a run to pace a Utah attack that drew six walks but left nine runners on base.

Utah threatened at the start of the game, loading the bases thanks to three walks with two outs. However, a grounder to short ended the threat.

The Utes broke through in the second when Ally Dickman reached on a two-base error by the Cal left fielder. The sophomore was lifted for pinch runner Ryley Ball but it made no difference as Kay Kay Fronda belted a ball to deep left for a RBI triple. She then scampered home on a wild pitch.

Cal had a chance to do some damage in the third with two on and one out, but Anissa Urtez snagged a liner before alertly flipping to second for a double play.

The Golden Bears did get on the board equalizer in the fourth. The first two batters reached and after a sacrifice bunt, Vanessa Alvarez slapped one back to the circle. Jazzmyn Jackson deked back to third before coming home to cut the deficit to 2-1.

Utah busted things open in the bottom half of the inning. Delilah Pacheco and Alyssa Barrera drew one-out walks before Hannah Flippen singled to right to score a run. Urtez followed with a beautiful squeeze bunt to plate another runner for the Utes.

After a Bowen single, Bridget Castro's grounder to short was mishandled to add one more to the tally and Dickman closed the inning with a single through the left side to score Aubrey Peterson and make it 6-1.

Cal valiantly fought back in the fifth, putting together three-straight singles with one out to load the bases. A pair of walks got the Golden Bears within striking distance at 6-3 and after a pitching change, a RBI groundout and two-run triple from Alvarez knotted the score.

Miranda Viramontes earned the win, improving to 9-1 on the season, allowing just two hits in 2 2/3 innings. Katie Donovan started the game and was saddled with six runs in 4 1/3 innings, walking four.

Katie Sutherland-Finch suffered her fist loss of the season, allowing just the one run in 2 1/3 innings. Starter Zoe Conley was tagged for six runs in 3 2/3 frames.

The second game of this series is scheduled for noon tomorrow. You can watch the game live via the web stream at UtahUtes.com and listen on KUTE