Softball team hits midpoint of season with epic wins

This archived article was written by: Alex Burrola

USU Eastern’s softball team is a little over the mid-season mile mark as they continue to break their record from last year.
Over the last two weekends they have played eight crucial games, battling to clench third place in the Scenic West Athletic Conference. They are tied with the College of Southern Nevada for fourth place at 12 wins and 16 losses, after sweeping Colorado Northwestern Community College and splitting a series with Salt Lake Community College.
In the first set of games against Colorado Northwestern Community College, the Eagles showed off their bats scoring 43 runs on 34 hits. Shelby Shurtliff and Cassidy Howe led the Eagles in hits. Shurtliff, going 6-8 with 4 RBIs and Howe, 5-8 with 8 RBIs. The final score for the first set of games were 15-1 and 28-0.
The second set of the series continued to display the disciplined hitting of the Eagles. When combining the third and fourth games they scored 31 runs 32 hits. Madison Blauer, Ashley Sweat and McKenzie Dorney, led the Eagles in hits. Blauer, going 4-4 with 3 RBIs, Dorney, going 5-8 with 7 RBIs and Sweat, going 6-8 with 3 RBIs. The final scores of the second set of games were 14-0 and 17-3.
Going into the series against Salt Lake Community College, the Bruins held a record of 19 wins and five losses compared to the Eagles with 10 wins and 14 losses. The first set of games were a battle for the Eagles scoring only five runs on 10 hits, leaving 10 runners on base. Cassidy Howe lead the team in hits, going 3-5 with no RBIs. The final scores of the first set of games were 7-1 and 12-4 with SLCC in the lead.
The second set of the series, the Eagles battled against SLCC again and were more determined to win. Everything seemed to go their ways as Eastern scored 12 runs on 23 hits, out hitting the Bruins in both games. Carlye Levy broke six scoreless innings scoring two runners in the top of the seventh inning while Ashley Sweat hit in the third run, making the score 3-0 going into the bottom of the seventh inning.
The Eagles were able to hold the Bruins scoreless in the last inning, winning their first game ever against SLCC.
The fourth game against SLCC was a fight until the finish. The Eagles were able hold the Bruins scoreless until the bottom of the fifth inning.
The Eagles dominating with the score being 6-0 going into the bottom of the fifth inning, the Bruins put some runs on the board. Going into the last inning, the score was 7-4 in favor of the Eagles when Cassidy Howe hit a two-run homerun to secure the game for the Eagles. The final score ended up being 9-8 with the Eagles claiming their second victory ever against SLCC.
They play at home the next three weekends taking on College of Southern Nevada on April 20-21; College of Southern Idaho April 27-28; and Snow College April 4-5. Games on Friday begins at noon and 2 p.m. while games on Saturday begin at 1 and 3 p.m. Eastern plays their games at the Carbon County Fairground fields.