April 25, 2003
Salt Lake City, Utah -
The UC Santa Barbara softball team lost 3-1 to Utah behind a strong outing by Utes pitcher Jen Pursell, on a windy Friday afternoon. Utah improves to 17-21 overall, while the Gauchos fall to 30-17. Santa Barbara now travels to Logan, UT to take on Big West foe Utah State this weekend.
UCSB had a strong first inning after Leslie Simien reached base on an error and then swiped second before being bunted over to third. Santa Barbara however wasn't able to capitalize as Pursell retired the next two batters to prevent the any runners from scoring. With the exception of an error in the fourth, all but one of the Gauchos' next 13 batters were retired by Pursell.
Utah did all of its damage in the third and fourth innings, both times with two outs. Outfielder Texie Criddle reached on a fielder's choice. Niki Hayhurst then ripped a single to right field that was misplayed by Simien, allowing Criddle to score from first, once again putting the Gauchos behind by virtue of an unearned run.
In the fourth, Glennis Donnelly singled to third base. After pitcher Carly Harmon struck out the next Ute batter, Traci Keller knocked a single down the left side to move Donnelly to second. Bryanne Durrence followed up with a walk to load the bases. Next, Jackie Wong connected for a single to shortstop that would score Donnelly and a hustling Keller to give Utah a 3-0 lead they would not relinquish.
Pursell threw five no-hit innings, but lost the no-hitter in the sixth off a bunt single by Simien. After swiping second, Simien moved to third after Ashley Groefsema knocked a nubber off her bat for a hit. After a Chantal Pershing fly out, Jami Trinidad walked to load the bases and it appearred UCSB might make a comeback. But Kim Iversen then smacked a bouncer to short that was fielded perfectly by Donnelly to get the Utes out of the inning and keep a 3-0 margin.
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The Gauchos finally put a run on the board in the seventh when Sarah Brown drew a walk to lead off the inning. Kristen Mann then grounded out to second, advancing Brown to second. Brown take third safely after an errant throw in by the Utes shortstop in a rundown. She would then score on a double down the left field line by Karyna Wilkerson, breaking up the shutout. The game ended when Wong made a diving grab on a hard groundball by Simien and easily tossed it to Hayhurst to give UCSB it's third loss in its last four games.
