Dixie State University softball avoided a couple of Monday afternoon storm fronts en route to a doubleheader sweep of Brigham Young University-Hawaii.
The game-one victory was delayed by rain for 41 minutes before the Trailblazers could take the field. Led by senior pitcher Aryn Feickert, DSU ousted the Seasiders 8-0 in the opener. Feickert’s no-hitter bid was broken up midway through the fourth inning, but the Hero Sports Division II “Hero of the Week” still finished the complete-game one-hitter.
“Our pitchers have worked extremely hard since our return from San Fransisco, and it clearly showed today,” said Autumn Woodfall, a senior psychology major from Kaysville. “We were patient at the plate, had aggressive swings and situational hits.”
Junior third baseman Brooklyn Beardshear followed an RBI from freshman Jessica Gonzalez with on of her own to give DSU the 2-0 lead in the first.
The Trailblazers pulled away in the second, scoring four runs on another Gonzalez RBI and a bases-clearing three-run triple from junior first baseman Mallory Paulson.
DSU extended the lead to eight in the fifth, scoring on junior shortstop Josey Hartman’s RBI-double and sophomore outfielder Janessa Bassett’s RBI-single to end the game.
Bassett’s hot bat led the Trailblazers as she went 3-4 from the plate. Gonzalez finished 2-2 as Feickert struck out six and improved to 19-4 on the season.
Game two was nearly a carbon copy of game one as DSU downed BYU-H in what was the Seasiders final game of the season.
Once again, DSU notched two runs in the first inning as Gonzalez got another RBI-single and junior catcher Arista Honey added an RBI-double in the following at bat.
The entire Trailblazer outfield hit RBIs as they kept piling on the runs in the second. Bassett’s triple scored two, junior Shelby Yung singled for one and senior Kristie Johnson’s sac-fly also scored one.
DSU braved the cold weather and kept the bats hot in the third as first baseman Bailey Gaffin and fellow freshman infielder Kaitlyn Delange both added RBIs to extend the lead.
Hartman sent the Seasiders packing with a solo shot over the left field wall to extend the lead to 9-0.
The Seasiders finally pushed one across the plate in the fifth, but it was too little, too late for BYU-H as the eight- point lead ended the game early.
Beardshear did it all in the 9-1 win, taking the win from the circle (11-4) and going 3-3 from the plate.
“Everyone stepped up today,” head coach Randy Simkins said. “We had strong at bats from the top of the lineup to the bottom. Our pitching and fielding was phenomenal. Considering the elements, this was a really good performance and hopefully a good indicator of what we can continue to do.”
The Trailblazers wrap up the regular season with a four-game series against Concordia University Friday and Saturday.
