ETV News stock photo by Jeff Barrett
By Loren Miller, USU Eastern Sports Information
Utah State Eastern softball’s regular season came to a close this weekend with a four-game sweep by the College of Southern Idaho Golden Eagles in Twin Falls.
The Eagles lost two of the four games by one run with games two and four coming by a score of 7-6 and 6-5, respectively. In games one and three, the Eagles lost both game by multiple runs, 7-4 and 9-1.
“CSI is a good hitting team and I think that we ignored that at some points of the series. We would get a lead and think we’re okay and relax a little. I think that’s what hurt us the most against them,” said USU Eastern assistant coach Mary Hart.
At the plate, the Eagles had 29 hits, 14 RBIs and two home runs while drawing 12 walks.
The Eagles got a solid contribution from sophomore McKenna Gubanich after she tallied five hits, three RBIs, one home run and no errors in the field on defense.
“She did a pretty good job, especially in the last game when she came in for a clutch homerun. That definitely helped with the mood of the game and helped us come back,” said Hart.
Despite picking up a couple losses in the series, pitcher Nyah DeRyke pitched well for the Eagles. She pitched in 10.2 innings during the series and gave up 18 hits, 10 earned runs and threw seven strikeouts.
“Nyah pitched a heck of a game in the last game even though we did lose she still held them pretty well and pitched a great game,” said Hart.
The Eagles finish the regular season with a 15-32 overall and 13-22 in conference play. They will now turn their focus to the Region XVIII Tournament held in Taylorsville this coming Wednesday through Friday.
“I think that if we take away the good from this weekend and build off of it, I think we’re going to do great things in tournament. I think people are going to underestimate us going in but I believe we can upset some teams this weekend,” said Hart.
USU Eastern will take on Colorado Northwestern in a single-elimination game on Wednesday at 11 a.m. at Norma Carr Field on the Redwood Campus of Salt Lake Community College. The winner of that game will move on to take on number one seed Salt Lake on Wednesday afternoon.
Wednesday’s game and the rest of the tournament will be broadcast on the Scenic West Digital Network at scenicwestsnetwork.com.