It’s sluggin’ time again in St. George, and the Utah Tech University softball team is ready to take the field for the 2025 season. Last year, the Trailblazers finished fifth in the Western Athletic Conference and are coming off of a 19-31 overall record in 2024.
Head Coach Randy Simkins is feeling confident about the team’s chances for success. A few new faces were brought to the team in the offseason, and he’s excited to see what everyone will be able to do.
“I think we’re better defensively and we’re definitely going to be a better hitting team,” Simkins said. “Pitching is still a little unproven because we’ve got four new pitchers… but they all have a tremendous upside to be very good pitchers.”
The team has some formidable matchups to keep an eye out for, including a University of California, Los Angeles team that made an appearance in the 2024 Women’s College World Series, a Brigham Young University team coming out of the loaded Big 12, and Grand Canyon University, the first place conference foe who went 50-13 this past season.
“We try not to worry about the name on the front of their shirt,” Simkins said. “We try to take care of what we want to do offensively and defensively.”
Freshman infielder Jorja Crider, a freshman criminal justice major from Eagle, Idaho, said, “I think it’s exciting because we’re able to come in as the underdog and just be able to perform without any pressure, no worries about having a big loss or anything, so that’s nice.”
Crider is one of the many new faces that Simkins has brought to his team in his 17th year at the helm. He said that they have brought great energy to the team to help prepare for this upcoming season.
“Everything is super exciting,” Crider said. “We all play super well together and we’re excited to see how the season is about to go. We all just love playing with each other and it brings good energy.”
Senior infielder Ellie Evans, a senior English major from Sammamish, Washington, is pumped about the season as well, and she is playing a crucial role on the team as one of its on-field leaders. She said the most important thing to her as a leader was to look out for her teammates and try to stay healthy so she could be there for her team on the field.
This season will be the first year that the Trailblazers will be eligible for postseason play since transitioning to Division I, as per NCAA rules. The team is aiming for a chance to play in the Women’s College World Series, the most prestigious championship in college softball. Coach Simkins said that this is only one of the teams’ goals this year.
“Our goal is to make great young ladies,” Simkins said. “Our focus when we recruit is a good person first, good student second and good athlete last. We want to send them out of here as amazing young ladies who are going to rule the world.”
The team will play in a handful of tournaments beginning in Los Angeles and ending in Honolulu. Their first home game at Karl Brooks Field will be Feb. 20 at 3 p.m. Their schedule can be viewed here.
