Upcoming Event: Softball versus UCSB on February 6, 2026 at 2 p.m.
2 p.m.
Softball
vs UCSB
The University of Utah Athletics
Saturday, March 2
St. George, UT
11:00 AM
University of Utah
vs
Wisconsin
Photo by: Eli Rehmer/Utah Athletics
Utah Softball’s Road Swing Starts Against Badgers, Trailblazers, Aztecs
2/29/2024 1:28 PM | Softball
Trailblazer Tournament up first for Utes, followed by super regional rematch
SALT LAKE CITY – The University of Utah softball team is closing in on the start of Pac-12 play, but the beginning of the road trip that will conclude with the Utes visiting UCLA will first send the squad to St. George, Utah, then to San Diego and along the way they'll play six games against three teams, including a rematch with the program they tangled with in the 2023 NCAA Salt Lake City Super Regional series.
The Utes will make their first appearance in St. George at Karl Brooks Field on Saturday for two matchups with the Wisconsin Badgers, the first one scheduled to begin at 11 a.m., followed by a 2 p.m. clash. On Sunday, Utah will square off with the Badgers at 9 a.m. and the Utah Tech Trailblazers at 12 p.m. and close out their time at the Trailblazer Tournament by playing the Trailblazers on Monday at 11 a.m. Two days later, the Utes will have a Wednesday date with the San Diego State Aztecs at 5 p.m. PT (6 p.m. MT) inside SDSU Softball Stadium in San Diego.
March 2 – 6 Schedule
How to Follow
Live stats will be available for all of Utah's games in St. George, while the WAC International Network will broadcast the Utes' games against the Trailblazers. The Mountain West Network will carry Utah's matchup with SDSU.
Last Time Out
Utah put together a winning record during their three days in California at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic, improving their ledger on the season to 8-6. Amy Hogue's crew kicked-off the tournament with consecutive victories over CSUN and San Diego in which four Utah pitchers combined to allowed just one run on seven hits. On the tourney's final day, the Utes erased a 5-0 deficit to earn a 9-5 victory over Nebraska, with the Utes scoring all of their runs over the final three frames.
Abby Dayton was Utah's toughest out in California and put together a week no one in the Pac-12 could match. The sophomore centerfielder went 12-for-16 at the plate, collected multiple hits in four of her team's five matchups and smacked her first career home run. That performance boosted Dayton's average from .286 up to .455 and moved her into the top 10 in the Pac-12 in batting and hits. Her home run came in the fifth inning Sunday against Nebraska and sliced the Utes' deficit in half, helping spark the squad's comeback.
Dayton wasn't the only Utah hitter to swat her first career home run at the Mary Nutter Classic. The Utes' first run of the weekend came on Leilani Melendez's first long ball as a Ute and one day later, Haley Denning belted her first four-bagger in more than 600 collegiate at-bats.
Sarah Ladd pocketed victories in Utah's first and last triumphs of the weekend, firing 4 1/3 innings of one-hit ball against CSUN on Friday, followed by a 4 2/3 innings of scoreless relief at the expense of Nebraska. Ladd's 2024 win total of five has already matched her mark from all of last year and she's climbed into the top five in the conference and the top 30 in the nation in that statistic.
Scouting the Opposition
The Utes will have the chance to extract a measure of revenge from the Badgers, who defeated Utah 4-2 during the Mary Nutter Classic. Wisconsin also knocked off Oregon State, San Diego and Long Beach State in California. Their toughest outs so far in 2024 have included catcher Hilary Blomberg, who owns a team-best .387 average, infielder Alivia Bark, who's batting .362 with a 11 RBIs, and outfielder Brooke Kuffel, who has smacked a team-high five home runs.
The Trailblazer Tournament will be Utah's first trip to St. George since 2021, when the Utes collected two wins at Karl Brooks Field, thanks in part to Denning, who logged three hits and two runs scored in both competitions. This will be the second straight week at home for coach Randy Simkins' squad, who just finished the Utah Tech Tournament 2-2, putting them at 5-7 on the season. Three Trailblazers own batting averages over .300, including Marisa Rubio's .400 clip and Carly Eldredge's mark of .350 to go with three homers and 15 RBIs, both team-highs.
The Aztecs started the season ranked, but currently find themselves in the same situation as the Utes, receiving votes in multiple polls. SDSU has a pair of ranked victories to its credit, topping No. 25 Kentucky and No. 11 Missouri and nearly upsetting Texas A&M and Oregon as well.
Pitching has been the strongest area of coach Stacey Nuveman Deniz's team through 14 games, led by right-hander Allie Light. After a junior season in which she earned all-conference and all-region honors, Light has crafted a 1.28 ERA through her first 38 1/3 innings. She's tossed shutout ball in six of her 10 appearances, including outings against Stanford, Kentucky and Oregon while allowing only a single home run. Light has been backed up on the SDSU staff by Cece Cellura, Dee Dee Hernandez and Cassidy West, none of who posses an ERA highest than 3.11.
2024 Team Stat Leaders (as of 2/29/2024)
National Rankings
Pac-12 Rankings
Utah's hitter have recorded 33 multi-hit games so far in 2024 and two of their leaders in that category have been Abby Dayton and Kaylah Nelsen. Dayton's numbers include five three-hit performances, one away from Aliya Belarde's team-high six contests with three safeties a year ago.
Nelsen has picked up two hits in five different bouts during her junior campaign, more than doubling her total from 2023. She also leads the squad in games with multiple RBIs with four.
Early Risers
The Utes have owned the early innings so far in 2024, outscoring their opponents 26-3 over the first two frames and they have only trailed after two innings once. Utah's largest first-inning rally so far in 2024 came on Feb. 23 against San Diego, when they erupted for five runs, including a pair of two-run knocks off the bats of Julia Jimenez and Kaylah Nelsen.
Record Watch
After a 2023 campaign that saw a slew of records fall, more all-time marks are on the chopping block in 2024. Haley Denning has her sights on three of Utah's all-time marks, including the program's career hits record, which she currently stands only seven safeties away from breaking. Denning also needs 19 more steals to top Sandy Rhea's record total of 130 and she's 28 runs away from taking over as the program's career leader in crossing home plate.
Leadoff Leaders
The Utes have been experts are starting innings with hits and they are currently getting on base at a .427 clip to start off an inning. Dayton, Nelsen, Belarde, Julia Jimenez and Kendall Lundberg are all reaching at a rate of .500 or better beginning an inning.
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).
The Utes will make their first appearance in St. George at Karl Brooks Field on Saturday for two matchups with the Wisconsin Badgers, the first one scheduled to begin at 11 a.m., followed by a 2 p.m. clash. On Sunday, Utah will square off with the Badgers at 9 a.m. and the Utah Tech Trailblazers at 12 p.m. and close out their time at the Trailblazer Tournament by playing the Trailblazers on Monday at 11 a.m. Two days later, the Utes will have a Wednesday date with the San Diego State Aztecs at 5 p.m. PT (6 p.m. MT) inside SDSU Softball Stadium in San Diego.
March 2 – 6 Schedule
| Date | Game | Live Stats/Watch |
| March 2 | Utah vs. Wisconsin | Live Stats |
| March 2 | Utah vs. Wisconsin | Live Stats |
| March 3 | Utah vs. Wisconsin | Live Stats |
| March 3 | Utah at Utah Tech | Live Stats / Watch |
| March 4 | Utah at Utah Tech | Live Stats / Watch |
| March 6 | Utah at San Diego State | Live Stats / Watch |
How to Follow
Live stats will be available for all of Utah's games in St. George, while the WAC International Network will broadcast the Utes' games against the Trailblazers. The Mountain West Network will carry Utah's matchup with SDSU.
Last Time Out
Utah put together a winning record during their three days in California at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic, improving their ledger on the season to 8-6. Amy Hogue's crew kicked-off the tournament with consecutive victories over CSUN and San Diego in which four Utah pitchers combined to allowed just one run on seven hits. On the tourney's final day, the Utes erased a 5-0 deficit to earn a 9-5 victory over Nebraska, with the Utes scoring all of their runs over the final three frames.
Abby Dayton was Utah's toughest out in California and put together a week no one in the Pac-12 could match. The sophomore centerfielder went 12-for-16 at the plate, collected multiple hits in four of her team's five matchups and smacked her first career home run. That performance boosted Dayton's average from .286 up to .455 and moved her into the top 10 in the Pac-12 in batting and hits. Her home run came in the fifth inning Sunday against Nebraska and sliced the Utes' deficit in half, helping spark the squad's comeback.
Dayton wasn't the only Utah hitter to swat her first career home run at the Mary Nutter Classic. The Utes' first run of the weekend came on Leilani Melendez's first long ball as a Ute and one day later, Haley Denning belted her first four-bagger in more than 600 collegiate at-bats.
Sarah Ladd pocketed victories in Utah's first and last triumphs of the weekend, firing 4 1/3 innings of one-hit ball against CSUN on Friday, followed by a 4 2/3 innings of scoreless relief at the expense of Nebraska. Ladd's 2024 win total of five has already matched her mark from all of last year and she's climbed into the top five in the conference and the top 30 in the nation in that statistic.
Scouting the Opposition
The Utes will have the chance to extract a measure of revenge from the Badgers, who defeated Utah 4-2 during the Mary Nutter Classic. Wisconsin also knocked off Oregon State, San Diego and Long Beach State in California. Their toughest outs so far in 2024 have included catcher Hilary Blomberg, who owns a team-best .387 average, infielder Alivia Bark, who's batting .362 with a 11 RBIs, and outfielder Brooke Kuffel, who has smacked a team-high five home runs.
The Trailblazer Tournament will be Utah's first trip to St. George since 2021, when the Utes collected two wins at Karl Brooks Field, thanks in part to Denning, who logged three hits and two runs scored in both competitions. This will be the second straight week at home for coach Randy Simkins' squad, who just finished the Utah Tech Tournament 2-2, putting them at 5-7 on the season. Three Trailblazers own batting averages over .300, including Marisa Rubio's .400 clip and Carly Eldredge's mark of .350 to go with three homers and 15 RBIs, both team-highs.
The Aztecs started the season ranked, but currently find themselves in the same situation as the Utes, receiving votes in multiple polls. SDSU has a pair of ranked victories to its credit, topping No. 25 Kentucky and No. 11 Missouri and nearly upsetting Texas A&M and Oregon as well.
Pitching has been the strongest area of coach Stacey Nuveman Deniz's team through 14 games, led by right-hander Allie Light. After a junior season in which she earned all-conference and all-region honors, Light has crafted a 1.28 ERA through her first 38 1/3 innings. She's tossed shutout ball in six of her 10 appearances, including outings against Stanford, Kentucky and Oregon while allowing only a single home run. Light has been backed up on the SDSU staff by Cece Cellura, Dee Dee Hernandez and Cassidy West, none of who posses an ERA highest than 3.11.
2024 Team Stat Leaders (as of 2/29/2024)
| Batting Avg. | Haley Denning | .457 | |
| Slugging % | Abby Dayton | .614 | |
| On Base % | Karlie Davison | .511 | |
| Runs Scored | Haley Denning | 14 | |
| Hits | Haley Denning | 21 | |
| RBI | Kaylah Nelsen | 9 | |
| Doubles | Kaylah Nelsen | 5 | |
| Home Runs | Aliya Belarde | 2 | |
| Stolen Bases | Haley Denning | 12 | |
| ERA | Sarah Ladd | 2.39 (41.0 IP) |
| K's | Mariah Lopez | 40 |
| Wins | Sarah Ladd | 5 |
National Rankings
- Haley Denning's 12 steals have her tied for fourth in the nation.
- Sarah Ladd has collected five victories so far in 2024, tied for 29th in Division I.
- Mariah Lopez has moved into the top 50 nationally in two categories, including strikeouts, where she's tied for 41st with 40 and innings pitched, where she's tied for 46th.
- Utah's average of 2.14 stolen bases per game is tied for 21st in the country and they're also in the top 50 in double plays per game and batting average, at .319.
Pac-12 Rankings
- Haley Denning has carved out a spot for herself in the top 10 in four different statistics, including stolen bases, where she leads the league with 12. Denning also ranks fourth in the league in hitting with a .457 average and she's tied for sixth in both runs scored and hits.
- Karlie Davison's sophomore season has gotten off to an excellent start, as evidenced by a stat line that includes a .421 average, a .511 on-base percentage and five stolen bases, all of which place her in the Pac-12's top 10. Her five steals already more than twice as many as she accumulated as a freshman.
- Abby Dayton is sporting a .455 average so far in 2024, fifth-best in the Pac-12, and her 20 base knocks are tied for ninth in the conference.
- Two more Utah hitters own places in the top 10 on the league leaderboard, including Aliya Belarde's two triples, which place her in a tie for second, and Kaylah Nelsen's five doubles, which have her sharing sixth.
- Julia Jimenez's patience at the plate has garnered her six walks so far in 2024, tying her for sixth in the conference.
- Sarah Ladd has put herself near the top of the conference in three different categories, including victories, where she's tied for fourth with five. Ladd is also even with two other hurlers in fifth with 41 innings pitched and owns the conference's eighth-highest strikeout total.
- Mariah Lopez has thrown 45 2/3 innings so far in her senior year, third-most in the Pac-12, and she's compiled 40 strikeouts, tying her for fourth.
- As a team, the Utes rank third in the Pac-12 in stolen bases with 30 and are tied for third in triples with three.
Utah's hitter have recorded 33 multi-hit games so far in 2024 and two of their leaders in that category have been Abby Dayton and Kaylah Nelsen. Dayton's numbers include five three-hit performances, one away from Aliya Belarde's team-high six contests with three safeties a year ago.
Nelsen has picked up two hits in five different bouts during her junior campaign, more than doubling her total from 2023. She also leads the squad in games with multiple RBIs with four.
Early Risers
The Utes have owned the early innings so far in 2024, outscoring their opponents 26-3 over the first two frames and they have only trailed after two innings once. Utah's largest first-inning rally so far in 2024 came on Feb. 23 against San Diego, when they erupted for five runs, including a pair of two-run knocks off the bats of Julia Jimenez and Kaylah Nelsen.
Record Watch
After a 2023 campaign that saw a slew of records fall, more all-time marks are on the chopping block in 2024. Haley Denning has her sights on three of Utah's all-time marks, including the program's career hits record, which she currently stands only seven safeties away from breaking. Denning also needs 19 more steals to top Sandy Rhea's record total of 130 and she's 28 runs away from taking over as the program's career leader in crossing home plate.
Leadoff Leaders
The Utes have been experts are starting innings with hits and they are currently getting on base at a .427 clip to start off an inning. Dayton, Nelsen, Belarde, Julia Jimenez and Kendall Lundberg are all reaching at a rate of .500 or better beginning an inning.
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).
Players Mentioned
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