No. 23 Utah Softball to Visit Cougars, No. 17 Wildcats on Four-Game Road Swing

Wednesday, March 15

Provo, UT

6 p.m.

University of Utah

Brigham Young

Photo by: Eli Rehmer/Utah Athletics

No. 23 Utah Softball to Visit Cougars, No. 17 Wildcats on Four-Game Road Swing

3/14/2023 11:18 AM | Softball

First-place Utes take 10-game win streak on the road

SALT LAKE CITY – No team in the Pac-12 is hotter than the No. 23 University of Utah softball team, as the Utes are currently riding a 10-game win streak and they were the only team to make it through the first weekend of conference play undefeated, but Utah's hot streak will be put to the test during a week that consists of four road matchups, first against the BYU Cougars, followed by a three-game set with the No. 17 Arizona Wildcats.

The Utes will clash with the Cougars on Wednesday at 6 p.m. MT in Provo, Utah at Gail Miller Field before setting course for Hillenbrand Stadium in Tucson, Ariz., the site of Utah's second Pac-12 series of the season. The Utes' first matchup with the Wildcats will take place on Friday at 6 p.m. MST (7 p.m. MT), followed by a Saturday contest set for 1 p.m. MST and the series will conclude with an 11 a.m. MST tilt on Sunday.

March 15-19 Schedule

Date	Game	Live Stats/Watch
March 15	Utah vs. BYU	Live Stats / Watch
March 17	Utah vs. Arizona	Live Stats / Watch
March 18	Utah vs. Arizona	Live Stats / Watch
March 19	Utah vs. Arizona	Live Stats / Watch

How to Follow
Live video and stats will be available for all four Utah road games and links to follow each game live can be found on UtahUtes.com.

Last Time Out
Utah's first weekend of Pac-12 play did not lack for drama, but the Utes managed to pull off a sweep of Oregon State and take sole possession of first place in the league.

In a rain-shortened series opener, Sydney Sandez led the way with six innings of one run ball while Haley Denning collected three hits and Ellessa Bonstrom and Karlie Davison each drove in multiple runs in a 6-1 triumph. Bonstrom played a starring role again on Saturday, going 3-for-3 with a homer and scoring three times as Utah built a 7-2 lead, then held off a furious comeback attempt from OSU to emerge with a 7-6 win.

Sunday's matchup proved to the most exciting, with the Utes coming from behind twice, first erasing a two-run deficit in the bottom of the seventh with a rally that consisted of three walks, a wild pitch and an error. After OSU re-took the lead in the top of the 10th, Bonstrom's two-run, walk-off double locked up Utah's first sweep of the Beavers since 2016.

Over the course of a week that also included a pair of games in Hawaii on Monday, Bonstrom batted .500 with three homers, eight RBIs and seven runs scored and her work in the batter's box was good enough to garner her recognition as the Pac-12 Player of the Week, the first time in her career she's received that honor. Sandez also tallied three wins during the previous week, giving her 10 on the season, which stands as the conference's third-highest total.

Scouting the Opposition
The Utes are preparing to take on two opponents who both possess winning records, starting with a BYU club that stands at 11-6 and finished a recent trip to St. George, Utah with three consecutive victories. The Cougars are aiming for what would the program's 23rd straight winning season, a streak that began in 2001 and includes a 42-10 season in 2022.

No one has swung a hotter bat for the Cougars than outfielder Maddie Bejarano, who's hitting .400 and leads her squad in hits, walks and runs scored. Bejarano has reached base in every game for BYU and her .516 on-base percentage ranks third in the West Coast Conference.

BYU's top pitcher so far in 2023 has been freshman right-hander Kaysen Korth, who twirled a complete-game shutout against Wisconsin in her first collegiate start on Feb. 9. Korth also fired a complete game in a win over Oregon State on Feb. 17 and has tossed scoreless ball in each of her last two appearances, helping the Cougars to wins over Portland State and Idaho State.

The Wildcats started their conference schedule with back-to-back shutouts of Arizona State before suffering a narrow defeat in the series' finale, putting their overall record at 17-7. Included in that win total are two top 10 victories, one over then-No. 8 Virginia Tech on Feb. 18 and another at the expense of No. 7 Arkansas on Feb. 23. Arizona also owns a 10-1 record in their home ballpark, with Nebraska the only opponent to leave Hillenbrand Stadium with a victory.

Coach Caitlin Lowe's lineup has been nearly unstoppable so far in 2023, as the Wildcats boast the conference's top batting average and highest-scoring offense. Lowe has seen her team score eight or more runs 15 times and their average of better than eight runs per game has them in the top 10 nationally.

Lowe's lineup consists of three of the most difficult outs in the Pac-12 in Olivia DiNardo, who leads the conference with a .492 average, Allie Skaggs, the league's leading run producer with 33 RBIs, and Carlie Scupin, who ranks third in the conference with nine homers. These hitters will be pitted against a Utah pitching staff that owns a 1.77 ERA and has allowed the second-fewest earned runs in the Pac-12.

Team Stat Leaders (as of 3/14/23)

Batting Avg.	Aliya Belarde	.456
Slugging %	Ellessa Bonstrom	.754
On Base %	Ellessa Bonstrom	.500
Runs Scored	Haley Denning	28
Hits	Aliya Belarde	36
RBI	Ellessa Bonstrom	28
Doubles	Sophie Jacquez	7
Home Runs	Ellessa Bonstrom	6
Stolen Bases	Haley Denning	22
ERA	Sydney Sandez	1.78 (55.0 IP)

K's	Mariah Lopez	74
Wins	Sydney Sandez	10

Pac-12 Rankings - Individual

Aliya Belarde and Haley Denning both own spots inside the conference's top 10 in batting average, with Belarde's .456 clip placing her in third, while Denning's .434 average has her tied for eighth.
Belarde and Denning are in the league's top five in both runs scored and hits, as Denning's 28 runs put her second, followed by Belarde in fourth with 26. Belarde's hit total of 36 has her in third, while Denning's 33 are tied for fourth.
Three of the top four base stealers in the conference are Utes, with Denning's 22 swipes earning her the top spot. Bonstrom's 11 thefts are the league's third-highest total and Belarde's 10 have her in fourth.
Bonstrom's 28 RBIs are tied for fourth in the conference and she also owns eighth highest home run total and seventh-best mark in walks.
Julia Jimenez can claim the Pac-12's 10th-best RBI total, having knocked in 24 runs, and her four sacrifice flies rank second.
Sydney Sandez is one of only three pitchers in the Pac-12 who've already collected double-digit wins and her 10 victories put her third in the league.
Mariah Lopez has racked up 78 strikeouts, placing her fifth in the conference and she's also fifth in strikeout rate with a mark of 8.45
Sandez's 1.78 ERA puts her seventh in the conference, while Lopez's mark of 1.83 occupies the eighth spot.

Pac-12 Rankings - Team

Utah's .334 team batting average is the Pac-12's third-highest clip, trailing only Arizona and UCLA.
The Utes have legged out six triples so far in 2023, tied for the conference's second-highest total.
Utah has piled up 10 sacrifice flies through 23 games, the most in the Pac-12.
Utah's 1.77 ERA ranks third-best in the conference and the Utah pitching staff has issued only 36 walks so far in 2023, tied for third-fewest in the league.

Utes Claim Spot in D1Softball.com Top 25
The newest D1Softball.com Top 25 rankings were released on Monday and Utah earned the No. 23 spot. This represents the first time the Utes have made an appearance in the national rankings since they were placed in the No. 21 spot just before the end of the 2020 season.

Bonstrom Named Pac-12 Player of the Week
During the week of March 6-12, Ellessa Bonstrom hit .500 with three homers, eight RBIs and seven runs scored while helping the Utes go 5-0 and her efforts were rewarded with the first Pac-12 Player of the Week Award of her career. Bonstrom started off the week with homers in a pair of Utah victories on March 6, added a 3-for-3 day on March 11, then finished the week with a walk-off two-run double to help Utah complete a sweep of Oregon State.

A Perfect 10
For the first time since 2017, the Utes have strung together 10 straight victories, a streak that dates back to their Feb. 26 win over Ohio State. During that streak, the Utes have hit .361, averaged exactly eight runs per game and pitched to a 1.75 ERA. Sydney Sandez is responsible for six of those wins and has thrown to a 0.49 ERA, while Belarde has hit .528 and Bonstrom has posted a 1.037 slugging percentage.

U Stands for Unhittable
The nine shutouts recorded by Utah's pitching staff are more than they posted in all of 2022 and only five times in 23 games have the Utes permitted the opposition more than two runs. Opponents have only managed a .191 batting average against Utah so far in 2023.

Starting Fast
For 10 straight games, from Feb. 19 to March 6, the Utes put together a consecutive games streak of scoring the first inning. Utah has outscored its opponents 35-6 in the first inning, a run total eclipsed only by the 38 runs the team has scored in the fourth inning. The seventh inning is the only frame in which the Utes have allowed more runs than they've scored.

Milestone Watch
Ellessa Bonstrom and Haley Denning both entered the year with significant milestones within their reach and they've continued to close in those accomplishments. Bonstrom, who has driven in 28 runs so far in 2023, is 24 away from becoming the program's all-time leader in that statistic and she's also 14 walks and two sacrifice flies from reaching the top of the Utah leaderboard in those categories.

Denning has swiped 22 bases through 23 games and those thefts have pushed her into third-place all-time in school history with 89 steals. She needs 11 more to become only the third Ute to ever reach 100 career stolen bases.

More History for Hogue
One season after becoming the all-time wins leader in the history of Utah softball, head coach Amy Hogue has already surpassed two more milestones in 2023. With her team's win on Friday over Northern Colorado, Hogue became the first coach to reach 400 wins in program and two days later, she picked up the 600th victory of her head coaching career.

Lopez Named First Wilson/NFCA Pitcher of the Week
For the first time since 2017, a Utah pitcher was honored with a weekly award. Mariah Lopez earned the title of Wilson/NFCA Pitcher of the Week after starting the season with 14 1/3 scoreless innings and three straight victories. The last Utah pitcher to receive a weekly award was Miranda Viramontes, who was named Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week in 2017.

FOLLOW THE UTES!
Fans can follow along on social media (Twitter: @Utah_Softball |Instagram: @utahsoftball | Facebook: Facebook.com/Utessoftball).