By Loren Miller, USU Eastern Sports Information:

PRICE – Utah State Eastern Softball split their four-game home series against the College of Southern Nevada Coyotes on Friday on Saturday.

The Eagles’ victory in game one of the series snapped a nine-game losing streak for the Eagles and also gave them their first home win of the season.

“It’s always good to get that first win.  We have been in games a lot this year against many good teams. This first win will give us some needed confidence,” said USU Eastern Head Coach Ryan Smith.

GAME ONE

USU Eastern defeated the Coyotes 11-3 in five innings led by the bats of sophomore outfielders Jaiden Smithand Rilee Stookey.

Smith and Stookey each had a team-high three RBIs. Smith had a homerun and three hits in game one as well.

Sophomore McKenzie Dorney also had a homerun in game one to along with her two hits and two RBIs.

USU Eastern pitcher Carlye Levy threw four strikeouts and allowed nine hits in nine innings of work.

The Eagles would close out the game in the bottom of the fifth after putting up four runs.

GAME TWO

Southern Nevada would respond in game two and defeat the Eagles 12-10.

The Coyotes had a hot first inning and quickly got out to a 4-0 lead.

With the score 6-4 in the top of the fourth inning, CSN would drive in four more runs to build a big 10-4 lead.

The Eagles wouldn’t quit however and would slowly chip away at the Coyotes lead in the final four innings of the game.

USU Eastern’s Alicia Cruz led the rally with two home runs, three RBIs and two hits.

The Coyotes would hold off the rally and stop the Eagles in the final inning of the game.

“If we had one more inning I think we would have got them. I love that the team just kept their spirits up and kept fighting.  It’s hard to beat a team that doesn’t quit,” said Coach Smith.

GAME THREE

On Saturday, the Eagles would open up their second doubleheader of the weekend with a dominating 12-1 win.

Levy pitched four innings for the Eagles and gave up one hit and a walk.

The lone run scored by the Coyotes came from a solo home run off of USU Eastern’s Tanzie Gasu in the top of the fifth.

USU Eastern’s Mckenna Gubanich and Avery Blackhurst each had monster games for the Eagles. Both drove in four runs and had multiple hits in game three.

“We were able to get our bats rolling and score more runs this weekend and with Carlye’s pitching we were able to hold them defensively in game three,” said Blackhurst.

Blackhurst, Cruz and Ashley Sweat each had a double in the game. Sweat finished the game with two RBIs and two hits.

“We all hit the ball really well this weekend.  Especially Avery Blackhurst, McKenzie Dorney, Jaiden Smith, Alicia Cruz and Ashley Sweat,” said Coach Smith.

GAME FOUR

The Eagles would get off to a slow start in game four and lost the game 7-6 in seven innings.

“Since we run rules them in the third game I think we relaxed a bit too much and it took us a while to get going,” said Smith.

Heading into the top of the fifth with a 3-0 lead, the Eagles would give up five runs in the inning to give the Coyotes the lead.

In the bottom of the sixth the Eagles would take a 6-5 lead off of a Jordyn Fitch three-run home run.

Southern Nevada would respond and get two more runs in the top of the seventh and hold off the Eagles to get the 7-6 win.

Gubanich led the Eagles in game four with two doubles, two runs and an RBI.

Freshman pitcher Nyah DeRyke and Levy each had three strikeouts and only gave up two walks in game four.

After the game four loss Coach Smith said the series was a good step in the right direction for his team.

“Overall I feel we are progressing and this was a good learning experience,” said Smith.
The Eagles will host the College of Southern Idaho this week in a four-game series.

Blackhurst echoed Smith’s comments and says it feels great to finally get things going on offense.

“It was very good to get some wins, especially at home. I think this will be a good turning point for us to keep progressing throughout the rest of our season,” said Blackhurst.

“Now that we have our bats going we really to focus on backing up our pitchers on defense. If we do that I believe we will do really well moving forward.”

Friday’s games will begin at 1 p.m. and Saturday’s doubleheader will start at noon.

All four games will be played at the Carbon County Fairgrounds and can be seen on the Scenic West Digital Network.