Oregon State
Utah
Gilmore & Guzy Guide Softball To Series Victory Over Utah
April 29, 2012 | Softball
April 29, 2012
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - Freshman Dani Gilmore hit two home runs, drove in three and scored twice while senior Erin Guzy contributed a two-RBI double as the No. 23 Oregon State softball team defeated Utah, 5-4, in Salt Lake City on Sunday afternoon.
The win gives the Beavers their second consecutive Pac-12 series victory and third of the season. OSU (33-16, 8-9) had never won back-to-back series since the conference switched to the current format for league play in 2010, with three games in three days against the same opponent. In taking two of three from the Utes, Oregon State also won its third Pac-12 series of the year for the first time since 2007. This year the Beavers also won all but once in three-game sets against then-No. 15 Oregon and then-No. 9 Washington. In 2007 they did the same against Stanford, California and Washington.
The road win against Utah (26-23, 1-17) showcased the best of both old and young for the Beavers, as the veteran Guzy and newcomer Gilmore powered Oregon State to victory.
Utah took a 4-0 lead in the second inning when, after the bases were loaded on two walks and a hit, Tia Palauni hit her second home run of the weekend over the left field fence to stake her side to a four-run advantage. That quartet of runs would be the only ones Utah could manage to put across in the entire game.
In the top of the third, Ya Garcia began the frame with a picturesque bunt single to third base and came around to score when Gilmore bombed the first pitch she saw from Generra Nielson over the fence in center field to pull OSU to within a pair, 4-2.
The Beavers would move ahead in the fifth when Gilmore led off the inning with her second bomb of the game, and team-leading ninth of the season, to center to make the score 4-3. Sophomore Hannah Bouska would follow that up with a double in the gap and Elizabeth Santana would draw a walk to set the stage for Guzy. The Beaver first baseman stroked a two-base liner to the fence in left center that plated both Bouska and Santana and put Oregon State on top, 5-4.
Tina Andreana got the start and the win for OSU, lasting 4 1/3 innings, to move her record to 9-9 on the year. Paige Hall threw the final 2 2/3 frames, pitching her usual lockdown effort as she allowed only two hits to earn her fifth save. Hall is now tied for third in single-season history at Oregon State for saves.
Gilmore's big day continued one of the more impressive seasons for a Beaver freshman in recent memory. Through 49 games she is batting .302 (45-for-149) with nine home runs and 32 RBI. Her 38 runs scored and 12 stolen bases tie her for 10th in single-season history at Oregon State in each respective category.
Her nine long balls in her first year in Corvallis are the most for any Oregon State freshman since All-American Tarrah Beyster launched 12 in 1997.
The two-homer game is OSU's third of the season (Paige Hall - 2/9; Elizabeth Santana - 4/10) and is the first such effort for a freshman since Lea Cavestany went yard twice in a 10-8 victory against then-No. 8 Stanford on April 11, 2010.
Guzy's double was also the 30th of her great career at Oregon State, which ties her for 10th all-time in that category.
The Beavers will be back in action at home this weekend when they welcome the unanimous No. 1 team in the country, California, to the OSU Softball Complex for a three-game set beginning on Friday in the team's annual Strike Out Cancer series.
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