Upcoming Event: Softball versus UCSB on February 6, 2026 at 2 p.m.
2 p.m.
Softball
vs UCSB
The University of Utah Athletics
Friday, March 29
Salt Lake City, UT
1 p.m.
University of Utah
vs
No. 18 California
Photo by: Eli Rehmer/Utah Athletics
Home Swing for Utah Softball Begins Against No. 18 Bears, Aggies
3/27/2024 2:08 PM | Softball
Fourth Pac-12 Series of 2024 pits Utah against fourth straight ranked Pac-12 opponent
SALT LAKE CITY – The University of Utah softball team is preparing to begin its longest stretch of home games on the 2024 schedule and that run of seven straight within the confines of the Dumke Family Softball Stadium starts with a Pac-12 series against the No. 18 California Golden Bears followed by a Monday matchup against the Utah State Aggies.
The Utes and Bears will tangle in their series opener on Thursday, with the first pitch scheduled to be thrown at 5 p.m., followed by another 5 p.m. meeting on Friday and a 12 p.m. bout on Saturday. Two days later, Utah and Utah State will get underway at 5 p.m.
March 28 – April 1 Schedule
How to Follow
Fans can catch every pitch of Utah's series with California on the Pac-12 family of networks, with the Pac-12 Network, Pac-12 Bay Area and Pac-12 Mountain carrying game one, Pac-12 Bay Area and Pac-12 Mountain airing game two and Pac-12 Bay Area serving as the home of game three. Utah Live Stream-2 will carry Utah against Utah State.
Game Day Promotions
It will be Youth Weekend at the Dumke Family Softball Stadium during Utah's series with Cal, with icy white Utah t-shirts being given away on Thursday to the first 50 kids through the gates, postgame autographs with the entire Utah team available on Thursday and Friday and an Easter Egg Hunt following the final pitch on Saturday. Jordyn Gasper and Sydney Sandez, members of Utah's 2023 Pac-12 Tournament and Salt Lake Super Regional Championship team, will be throwing out the first pitch on Thursday as part of a celebration of that championship squad.
Monday's matchup will be Family Night at Dumke, with four bleacher tickets available for only $10.
Last Time Out
The Utes fought valiantly during their three-game road series with the No. 4 Stanford Cardinal, but were unable to come away with a victory. This was despite performances such as Brooklyn Carreon's first collegiate start, which she began with three scoreless innings and finished with only a single run allowed over 3 1/3 innings.
Abby Dayton continues to be the most difficult out in Utah's lineup and by going 7-for-13 across five games last week, Dayton maintained her perch atop the Pac-12's batting average leaderboard with a .474 clip. Dayton is also the league's leader in triples and owns second place in hits, as well as a top 10 spot in slugging percentage. She also owns the Utes' longest hitting streak so far in 2024, having earlier cobbled together a run of 14 straight games with at least one knock.
After a difficult start to the season, Sophie Jacquez's bat has started to heat up, raising her batting average nearly 50 points in the process. Her sixth-inning double drove in the go-ahead runs in Utah's win over BYU and she followed that up by picking up RBIs in each of Utah's next two games. Jacquez also played a starring role in Utah's Pac-12 Tournament win over California, going 3-for-3 with a first-inning, two-run double that got the scoring started in a 6-2 Utah victory.
Scouting the Opposition
California bounced back from a 1-5 start to conference play by taking two of three from Arizona in their most recent weekend of Pac-12 competition. Both of their wins over the Wildcats were one-run affairs, including a walk-off victory in game two, in which the Bears used three homers to erase a five-run deficit before tallying the winning run in the ninth.
One of those homers came from junior infielder Acacia Anders, who went deep again a day later as part of a week in which she hit .500 with six RBIs and earned the Pac-12's Player of the Week award. Anders is one of two California players in the top five in the conference in slugging percentage, where she's joined by teammate Elon Butler. Butler is currently the Pac-12's leader in home runs with 11 and not far behind are fellow Bears Tianna Bell and Lagi Quiroga, both of whom have hit eight.
The Aggies, who own a mark of 19-12, also shook off a difficult start to their conference schedule by winning four of their next five, including taking two of three from Boise State.
The pitching of Jessica Stewart was one of the main reasons for USU's recent success, starting with a complete game shutout of San Diego State on March 17, the she picked up a save by recording the final three outs against Idaho State two days later. She then started off her team's series with BSU by permitting only a single hit over the final 2 2/3 innings of a 2-1 Utah State win. Stewart currently owns a 5-2 record with a 1.77 ERA.
2024 Team Stat Leaders (as of 3/27/2024)
National Rankings
The Utes have been excellent at holding late leads so far in 2024. They currently own a 14-1 record in games in which they're leading after four innings.
Leadoff Leaders
Utah's hitters are batting .379 when leading off an inning, led by Abby Dayton and Kaylah Nelsen. Dayton's reached 11 times in 16 tries when starting an inning, while Nelsen has gotten on base 14 times in 24 at-bats to begin a frame.
Two-Out RBIs
The Utes have succeeded better than 50 percent of the time at getting a runner home from third with less than two outs. Utah's currently getting that runner home from third 56 percent of the time, with Kaylah Nelsen and Julia Jimenez succeeding six times in eight attempts.
Three is a Charm
Abby Dayton has piled up seven three-hit games so far in 2024, topping Utah's team-high in that statistic from a season ago. Only Haley Denning has more multi-hit games for the Utes than Dayton's 12. Denning has collected 14.
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 Monday, 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).
The Utes and Bears will tangle in their series opener on Thursday, with the first pitch scheduled to be thrown at 5 p.m., followed by another 5 p.m. meeting on Friday and a 12 p.m. bout on Saturday. Two days later, Utah and Utah State will get underway at 5 p.m.
March 28 – April 1 Schedule
| Date | Game | Live Stats/Watch |
| March 28 | California at Utah | Live Stats / Watch |
| March 29 | California at Utah | Live Stats / Watch |
| March 30 | California at Utah | Live Stats / Watch |
| April 1 | Utah State at Utah | Live Stats / Watch |
How to Follow
Fans can catch every pitch of Utah's series with California on the Pac-12 family of networks, with the Pac-12 Network, Pac-12 Bay Area and Pac-12 Mountain carrying game one, Pac-12 Bay Area and Pac-12 Mountain airing game two and Pac-12 Bay Area serving as the home of game three. Utah Live Stream-2 will carry Utah against Utah State.
Game Day Promotions
It will be Youth Weekend at the Dumke Family Softball Stadium during Utah's series with Cal, with icy white Utah t-shirts being given away on Thursday to the first 50 kids through the gates, postgame autographs with the entire Utah team available on Thursday and Friday and an Easter Egg Hunt following the final pitch on Saturday. Jordyn Gasper and Sydney Sandez, members of Utah's 2023 Pac-12 Tournament and Salt Lake Super Regional Championship team, will be throwing out the first pitch on Thursday as part of a celebration of that championship squad.
Monday's matchup will be Family Night at Dumke, with four bleacher tickets available for only $10.
Last Time Out
The Utes fought valiantly during their three-game road series with the No. 4 Stanford Cardinal, but were unable to come away with a victory. This was despite performances such as Brooklyn Carreon's first collegiate start, which she began with three scoreless innings and finished with only a single run allowed over 3 1/3 innings.
Abby Dayton continues to be the most difficult out in Utah's lineup and by going 7-for-13 across five games last week, Dayton maintained her perch atop the Pac-12's batting average leaderboard with a .474 clip. Dayton is also the league's leader in triples and owns second place in hits, as well as a top 10 spot in slugging percentage. She also owns the Utes' longest hitting streak so far in 2024, having earlier cobbled together a run of 14 straight games with at least one knock.
After a difficult start to the season, Sophie Jacquez's bat has started to heat up, raising her batting average nearly 50 points in the process. Her sixth-inning double drove in the go-ahead runs in Utah's win over BYU and she followed that up by picking up RBIs in each of Utah's next two games. Jacquez also played a starring role in Utah's Pac-12 Tournament win over California, going 3-for-3 with a first-inning, two-run double that got the scoring started in a 6-2 Utah victory.
Scouting the Opposition
California bounced back from a 1-5 start to conference play by taking two of three from Arizona in their most recent weekend of Pac-12 competition. Both of their wins over the Wildcats were one-run affairs, including a walk-off victory in game two, in which the Bears used three homers to erase a five-run deficit before tallying the winning run in the ninth.
One of those homers came from junior infielder Acacia Anders, who went deep again a day later as part of a week in which she hit .500 with six RBIs and earned the Pac-12's Player of the Week award. Anders is one of two California players in the top five in the conference in slugging percentage, where she's joined by teammate Elon Butler. Butler is currently the Pac-12's leader in home runs with 11 and not far behind are fellow Bears Tianna Bell and Lagi Quiroga, both of whom have hit eight.
The Aggies, who own a mark of 19-12, also shook off a difficult start to their conference schedule by winning four of their next five, including taking two of three from Boise State.
The pitching of Jessica Stewart was one of the main reasons for USU's recent success, starting with a complete game shutout of San Diego State on March 17, the she picked up a save by recording the final three outs against Idaho State two days later. She then started off her team's series with BSU by permitting only a single hit over the final 2 2/3 innings of a 2-1 Utah State win. Stewart currently owns a 5-2 record with a 1.77 ERA.
2024 Team Stat Leaders (as of 3/27/2024)
| Batting Avg. | Abby Dayton | .472 | |
| Slugging % | Abby Dayton | .680 | |
| On Base % | Abby Dayton | .514 | |
| Runs Scored | Haley Denning | 29 | |
| Hits | Haley Denning | 47 | |
| RBI | Kaylah Nelsen | 222 | |
| Doubles | Kaylah Nelsen | 10 | |
| Home Runs | Aliya Belarde Leilani Melendez Karlie Davison Abby Dayton |
2 | |
| Stolen Bases | Haley Denning | 17 | |
| ERA | Mariah Lopez | 3.02 (99.2 IP) |
| K's | Mariah Lopez | 106 |
| Wins | Mariah Lopez | 9 |
National Rankings
- Abby Dayton has climbed into the top 10 nationally in three different statistics, including triples, where she's tied for fifth in the nation with five. She's also tied for ninth nationally in hits, racking up 46, and her .474 batting average has her in 10th.
- With 47 hits, Haley Denning is tied for seventh in Division I. She's tied for 17th in the country in steals with 17 and her .452 batting average ranks 25th.
- Mariah Lopez's 106 strikeouts are tied for 15th most in the nation and she also has racked up the 23rd highest innings pitched total in 2024 at 99 2/3
- Utah's total of 19 doubles plays turned in 2024 is tied for fourth in the nation.
- The Pac-12 leader in batting average and triples is Abby Dayton, with a .474 clip and five three-baggers so far in 2024. She is also second in the league in hits for 46, second in on-base percentage in .514 and ranks in the top 10 in slugging percentage.
- Haley Denning's 47 hits are tops in the Pac-12 and she's tied for first in runs scored with 29 and stolen bases with 18. She's also crafted a .452 batting average that ranks second in the league.
- Kaylah Nelsen moved into the top 10 in three different categories, including hits, where her total of 37 places her seventh. She owns a .389 batting average and 10 doubles, both of which rank 10th.
- Aliya Belarde's 27 runs are tied for fourth in the Pac-12 and Julia Jimenez is tied for ninth in the conference in walks with 13.
- Mariah Lopez's 106 strikeouts rank second in the Pac-12 and she also owns the league's fourth-highest win total with nine. She's also thrown 99 2/3 innings, the most in the conference and her seven complete games are tied for second.
- Sarah Ladd has collected seven wins so far in 2024, tied for eighth most on the Pac-12.
The Utes have been excellent at holding late leads so far in 2024. They currently own a 14-1 record in games in which they're leading after four innings.
Leadoff Leaders
Utah's hitters are batting .379 when leading off an inning, led by Abby Dayton and Kaylah Nelsen. Dayton's reached 11 times in 16 tries when starting an inning, while Nelsen has gotten on base 14 times in 24 at-bats to begin a frame.
Two-Out RBIs
The Utes have succeeded better than 50 percent of the time at getting a runner home from third with less than two outs. Utah's currently getting that runner home from third 56 percent of the time, with Kaylah Nelsen and Julia Jimenez succeeding six times in eight attempts.
Three is a Charm
Abby Dayton has piled up seven three-hit games so far in 2024, topping Utah's team-high in that statistic from a season ago. Only Haley Denning has more multi-hit games for the Utes than Dayton's 12. Denning has collected 14.
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 Monday, 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).
Players Mentioned
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