UTAH TECH UNIVERSITY'S STUDENT NEWS SOURCE | March 29, 2024

Softball still on top in conference play

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The wins just keep piling up for the Dixie State University softball team thanks to top-notch pitching and heavy bats. 

DSU welcomed Notre Dame de Namur University to Karl Brooks Field on Saturday for a doubleheader with the Argonauts.

As the regular season winds down, DSU is looking to solidify a top-two seed in the NCAA tournament in hopes of making another deep run. Last year, the Storm finished one win shy of reaching the national championship.

The aforementioned top-notch pitching was brought on by senior Michelle Duncan and junior Aryn Feickert. On the other side of the ball, the heavy bats were swung by a number of Storm players. 

Duncan allowed just three runs on four hits in game one, and her season record remained unblemished, improving to 21-0 in the 12-4 victory. Duncan, a business administration major from Gilbert, Arizona, was named a finalist for the National Fast Pitch Coaches Association Player of the Year award. 

“It’s a great honor,” Duncan said. “My goals are to win the conference title and make it back to the World Series again this year, so I have a lot of work to do to really live up to it.” 

Senior second baseman Nicole Chavez hit a grand slam in the bottom of the fifth to put NDNU away. Outfielder Courtney Sherwin and catcher Marla Reiter, both seniors, each added homers in the win. 

“We are playing so well because we are having fun,” said Reiter, a business administration major from Rolinda, California. “We don’t care about record, ranking, or who is in the other dugout. We just throw on our jerseys and have fun playing the game we love.” 

The second game of the doubleheader was all DSU. The Storm jumped out to an early 9-0 lead behind three first-inning home runs. Chavez hit two, and freshman outfielder Janessa Bassett added one of her own in the first-inning explosion. Feickert tied a career-high with 13 strikeouts in the win, improving to 16-5 on the season. 

The Storm improved to 38-7 in the sweep of the Argonauts and still sit atop the conference standings. DSU has this week off before closing out the regular season with six home games against Azusa Pacific and Holy Names University starting on April 24 at 3 p.m.