"Our girls battled through the rain and mud today," said head coach Dan Powers. "We almost pulled off the biggest comeback in our program's history, but fell short against Southern Utah."
Against SUU, the Thunderbirds took off on a 9-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Despite going down by such a significant deficit, Seattle U stayed in the game. The Redhawks would go on to score a pair of runs in both the second and third innings.
Hannah Klein (Camarillo, Calif.) led off the second with a single up the middle and was brought home behind a one out Brianna Guerrero (Buena Park, Calif.) home run. It was her first career homer.
The following inning, Allegra Wilde (Kennewick, Wash.) and Jessica Ulrich (Lewiston, Idaho) opened up things with consecutive walks. Klein would follow with a single to the left side to load the bases. Katie Gould (Medford, Ore.) would get SU on the board again, sending home Wilde on her fielder's choice at bat. The next Redhawk batters, Guerrero and Jessica Amador (Whittier, Calif.) were both walked to load the bases and send home SU's second run of the inning.
In the top of the fourth, SU had a breakout inning. They managed to score five runs to even the game at 9-9. Sarah Petosa (Auburn, Wash.) led off with a single to the right side. With runners on first and second, Klein would come to the plate and slam a single to right field to send home Petosa. Klein advanced to second on a passed ball and Ulrich would score on the play. Following a Gould out, Guerrero came to the plate and singled to right field, bringing home Klein. Amador would reach base on a single to left field.
With runners on first and second, Kate Zender (Enumclaw, Wash.) pinch hit and made the most of her sub appearance. She singled to center field, scoring Guerrero and sending Amador to third. With runners on the corners, Natalie Leyland (Richland, Wash.) singled to left field scoring Amador and capping off SU's five inning scoring run.
Freshman Guerrero would have the best game of her young career. She went 2-for-3, with three RBIs, two runs and a walk. Junior Klein had a season-best outing, going 2-for-4, with a run and a walk.
Despite SU's comeback efforts, SUU pushed through to score three runs in the bottom of the fifth to retake the lead, 12-9.
In the top of the seventh, the Redhawks offense did not quit. With one out and runners on second and third, Ulrich hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score Petosa, but the SU offense was unable to produce more runs before closing out the inning.
In game two of the day, the Boise State Broncos dominated play early. BSU scored in the first four innings of action, including a three-run second inning and a nine-run fourth inning.
"Against Boise State, our pitchers couldn't keep the ball in the park and our bats fell silent. We're hoping for better weather tomorrow and more consistent hitting in our lineup."
The Redhawks did breakup the Broncos' shutout, with a run in the fourth inning. Theresa Clark (Lakewood, Colo.), who was a perfect 2-for-2 in the game, earned the lone RBI. With two outs and a runner on second, Clark doubled to right center to score Guerrero and earn her first RBI of the season.
Seattle U (1-13) will return to action on Sunday, Mar. 6, for a final day of action at the BSU Tournament. The Redhawks will take on SUU in a 12 noon MT contest and Boise State at 2 p.m. MT.