No. 23 OSU Falls at Utah in Series Finale, 9-5

Monday, March 21

Salt Lake City, UT

11:00 AM

Oregon State

20-7-1, 0

Utah

21-9, 0

Oregon State

Utah

Photo by: Dave Nishitani/Oregon State Athletics

March 21, 2016 | Softball

Box Score

By: Athletic Communications

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The 23rd-ranked Oregon State softball team fell in its series finale to the Utah Utes, 9-5, on Monday from Dumke Family Softball Stadium.

Oregon State (20-7-1, 0-3 Pac-12) and Utah (21-9, 3-0 Pac-12) were equal in hits with nine apiece, but the Beavers only had three extra-base hits as opposed to five by the Utes, including a pair of early home runs from Hannah Flippen that helped the Utes jump out to a 6-2 lead after two innings.

“It just wasn't our weekend,” Oregon State head coach Laura Berg said. “We hit the ball well, but we just didn't get the timely hit. We'll get back to Corvallis this week and work hard to get back to where we were in the beginning of the year.”

Freshman catcher Kayleen Shafer drove in two of the Beavers' five runs on a double and added a single. Sophomore left fielder Lovie Lopez went 2-for-4 with a double, triple, RBI and run scored. Each of redshirt junior designated player Natalie Hampton and sophomore first baseman Alysha Everett posted RBI singles and a walk, while freshman right fielder Shelby Weeks recorded a pair of hits and a run scored.

Freshman righty Meehra Nelson (11-3) was charged with the loss for the Beavers as she was on the hook for the first seven runs on seven Utah hits and a walk with a strikeout in a two-inning start. Junior southpaw Taylor Cotton relieved Nelson in the third inning and held the Utes to two runs (one earned) on two hits and four walks with a pair of strikeouts. Senior righty Bev Miller allowed only one walk with a strikeout over the final two innings.

Katie Donovan (11-6) picked up the win in her start for Utah, pitching 6.1 innings and allowing the Beavers two runs on six hits and two walks with six strikeouts.

Each game of the three-game set at Utah featured one of the two teams scoring in the opening inning. On Monday, it was Utah that opened the scoring two batters into the game, as the Utes' Delilah Pacheco led off with a walk and Hannah Flippen drove her in on a two-run home run. Utah followed with two more singles, a sacrifice bunt to move each runner up and a double from Ally Dickman, as each lead runner scored and Oregon State faced a 4-0 hole after the first inning.

Oregon State cut the lead in half in the top of the second inning. Hampton and Christie Langlois reached base to lead off the frame on a walk and single to left field, respectively, followed by a Shafer double off the wall in left as both came around to score. However, Utah responded in the home half of the frame, as Flippen homered for the second time on Monday to reestablish the four-run lead at 6-2.

With bases loaded in the bottom of the third, Utah set itself up for another scoring frame, picking up another pair of runs. Back-to-back wild pitches accounted for both, as the Utes led 8-2 heading to the fourth inning.

After two innings without scoring, the Oregon State bats produced three runs to carve into the Utah lead in the top of the fifth inning. McKenna Arriola started the rally with one out, as she got to first on a walk and came home on a Lopez RBI triple down the left field line. Mikela Manewa reached on an error to put runners on the corners, and each runner came home on respective RBI singles from Hampton and Everett as the Beavers cut the deficit down to 8-5 through the top of the fifth inning.

Utah answered Oregon State's scoring inning again in the bottom of the fifth, manufacturing a run off of a situation with runners on the corners. On a successful attempt to steal second by Anissa Urtez, the throw intended to catch her stealing at second went awry, and the lead runner was able to advance from third as Utah extended its lead to four at 9-5 and cap Monday's scoring.

After 28 games on the road to start the season, the Oregon State softball team is set to play its first games of the season at the OSU Softball Complex when the Beavers host Cal next weekend in The Best College Town in the Pac-12. The series opens with 3 p.m. PT matchups on each of Thursday and Friday, and wraps up with the series finale on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. PT.

For more information on the Oregon State softball team, follow the club's official Twitter account at Twitter.com/OregonStateSB, by Facebook at Facebook.com/OregonStateSB or on Instagram at Instagram.com/OregonStateSB.

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