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SALT LAKE CITY — Softball continues in Utah.
The Utes secured a second consecutive 4-1 win over the Ole Miss Rebels to advance to the Interregional round of the NCAA Tournament. Utah prevailed 3-0 in the Salt Lake City Regional League and advanced to the next round, where the Utes will again host the Super Regional Championship for the first time in program history.
Utah will host the Super Regional as second-seeded UCLA failed to advance from the Los Angeles Regional they hosted. The Bruins lost their first two games and were eliminated from the tournament.
The Utes finished the afternoon game with a .407 batting average, 11 hits and two strikeouts against the Rebels to avoid an elimination game. Ole Miss went into the game with a 2-1 regional record and needed a win to force the eliminator, but Utah remained flawless and held the Rebels back.
Utah went first at the end of the second inning when Karlie Davison hit a two-run home run down left center that also sent Juia Jimenez home and gave the home team an early 2-0 lead. Later in the inning, Kendall Lundberg hit a hard ground ball in midfield to send Abby Dayton home and give Utah a 3-0 lead over Ole Miss.
Aliya Belarde extended the lead in the fourth inning with a perfectly placed low pop-up that landed just short of second base, and Shelbi Ortiz, who was at second base after a double to center field, upped the pace and came forward den Rebels to the goal could collect the ball.
The result forced Ole Miss head coach Jamie Trachsel to change her pitching and replace starter Catelyn Riley with freshman Grace Sparks. Riley ended the day with nine hits and two walks while catching just one strikeout against 19 different batters.
Sparks gave the Rebels a defensive boost and slowed the Utes’ bats. Utah managed just two hits against Sparks in the three innings she threw for Ole Miss.
Ole Miss avoided a shutout against dominant pitcher Mariah Lopez of Utah after leadoff batter Aynslie Furbush was hit by a pitch and sent her to first base. Two batters later, Jalia Lassiter hit a double to center field that went over Dayton’s head.
Lassiter attempted to convert the hit into a three, but was substituted off as third in a relay run from Dayton to shortstop Davison and then to Jimenez as third, who received the substitution. But before the elimination, Tenly Grisham, who pinched for Forbush, scored the team’s only run of the day.
Lopez threw a full game and finished the day with six hits, three walks and just one run earned.
The Utes now await the winner from either San Diego State or Liberty in the Super Regional, a best-of-three series that begins next weekend.
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Josh is an athletic director at KSL.com and a beatwriter for track and field at the University of Utah – primarily soccer, men’s basketball, and gymnastics. He is also one of the Associated Press’s top 25 voters for college football.