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Husky Softball Super Regional vs. Utah: Preview and Game Thread

The 6th-seeded Huskies and 11th-seeded Utes battle for a spot in the WCWS

By ekstrong
Edward Strong

It all comes down to this. After the Huskies won game 1 against the Utes on Friday 10-4, Utah battled back to win a 9-8 slugfest last night behind a 7-run third inning. The Huskies rallied from the five-run deficit to bring the game to 9-7 entering the ninth, but could only shave the lead one more time on a sacrifice fly by Casey Stangel. Tonight’s winner-take-all game 3 will be at 7 PM on ESPNU. Per NCAA softball rules, the host Huskies will be back in the home dugout (3rd base) and batting second after being the “road” team for the middle game of the series.

The winner of this game advances to the Women’s College World Series, which begins next Thursday (June 1st) in Oklahoma City. The winner of this game will play that team that wears green and yellow from Eugene in the first round of the 8-team double-elimination final.

Barring something wholly unexpected, both teams will remain with the same lineup and put their ace in the circle. The Huskies in particular have had an extremely stable lineup for a while now. Utah has made some slight adjustments. Shortly before game time, I’ll confirm this or explain any changes in the comments:

Utah:

  • CF #12 BreOnna Castaneda
  • RF #16 Alyssa Barrera
  • 2B #1 Hannah Flippen
  • SS #17 Anissa Urtez
  • 1B #3 Bridget Castro
  • C #22 Kelly Martinez
  • 3B #37 Heather Bowen
  • LF #11 Kay Kay Fronda
  • DP #4 Delilah Pacheco

RHP #20 Miranda Viramontes in the circle.

Possible substitutes for Utah:

  • #30 Hailey Hilburn (pitcher)
  • #9 Ryley Ball (pinch-runner)
  • #13 Katie Donovan (pitcher)

Washington:

  • SS #1 Ali Aguilar
  • 2B #22 Sis Bates
  • LF #24 Casey Stangel
  • C #47 Morganne Flores
  • 3B #3 Taylor Van Zee
  • DP #4 Julia DePonte
  • RF #2 Trysten Melhart
  • 1B #25 Kirstyn Thomas
  • CF #21 Kelly Burdick

RHP #14 Taran Alvelo in the circle.

Possible substitutes for Washington:

  • #32 Kaija Gibson (pinch-runner or OF defensive replacement)
  • #44 Madi Schreyer (pitcher)
  • #36 Amirah Milloy (pinch-runner)
  • #12 Maggie Gallagher (pinch-hitter)

My prediction:

Taran Alvelo doesn’t struggle very often, but it happens occasionally. But she doesn’t get hit hard in back-to-back games. Period. Freshman Samantha Manti had a great relief effort yesterday to let Alvelo rest up for game 3 after getting chased fairly early. I expect a fairly close game, but I think the Utes won’t be able to hit Alvelo in this game the way they did in game 2. When the Huskies are on offense, Utah will pitch around Flores whenever possible, and because of that, Viramontes will have to pitch more aggressively to the hitters directly in front of Morganne (Casey Stangel) and behind her (Taylor Van Zee). Both Stangel and TVZ are quietly on a roll (relative to Flores, at least) at the plate recently, and a clutch hit from one or both of them when Utah is trying to avoid Flores will make the difference.

5-2, Huskies.

Go Dawgs.

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