PLAY BALL!
\nUtah State softball (10-14, 0-0 MW) begins Mountain West play this weekend with a three-game series at Fresno State, playing the Bulldogs once each on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, before returning to nonconference action at Idaho State on Tuesday, March 17.<\/p>\n
FOLLOW ALONG
\nLive stats for all of this weekend’s games will be available via StatBroadcast. All three games against Fresno State will be streamed vai the Mountain West Network while USU’s lone contest at Idaho State will stream on ESPN+. Links and live updates will be available on the USU softball social media pages and through UtahStateAggies.com.<\/p>\n
AGGIES VS THE FIELD
\n\u2022 USU and Kansas have met 73 times previously, with the Aggies trailing, 18-55. The Aggies went 1-2 in a home series against the Bulldogs last season, earning a 9-5 victory between 7-3 and 7-4 losses.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Utah State has faced Idaho State 54 times, with the Aggies leading the series 31-23. The Bengals won two of the teams’ three meetings in 2025 and won the first matchup between the two sides this season in Logan.\u00a0<\/p>\n
LET US BEGIN
\nAll-time in Mountain West openers, Utah State is 7-4 but has lost their last two, both to San Diego State. The Aggies have opened conference action against Fresno State three times previously, once in the MW in 2021 resulting in a 1-0 FS victory in nine innings and twice in the WAC in 2006 and 2007, both also resulting in Bulldog wins.<\/p>\n
ICYMI HAVE SOME FAITH! FLAWLESS FIELDING A HIT TO REMEMBER NOT ON HER WATCH OPENING WEEK WARRIORS On the week, USU held four of its five opponents to two runs or fewer and out-scored them by a combined 21-13.<\/p>\n AGGIE ARMS \u2022 Senior Emmalyn Brinka<\/a>\u00a0pitched two complete games, earning a shutout vs Abilene Christian and a near-shutout vs Providence while throwing a career-high nine strikeouts. She also earned a save in the second contest against ACU. On the week, she pitched 14.0 innings, allowing just a single run for a 0.50 ERA with 17 strikeouts and just five hits allowed.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2022 Senior Rylie Pindel<\/a>\u00a0threw 6.2 scoreless innings against Bryant before allowing a single run in a complete game performance.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2022 Freshman Kendall Cochran<\/a>\u00a0was strong in her collegiate debut, throwing 5.2 innings with six strikeouts and just three hits allowed against Abilene Christian.\u00a0<\/p>\n WELCOME BACK NEW YEAR, NEW FACES Incoming freshmen include utility player Ryan Pead<\/a>\u00a0(Saratoga Springs, Utah \/ Westlake HS), left-handed pitcher Jordyn Lish<\/a>\u00a0(Modesto, Calif. \/ Fred C. Beyer HS), catcher\/infielder Sofia Trejo<\/a>\u00a0(Tucson, Arizona \/ Tucson Magnet HS), right-handed pitcher Kendall Cochran<\/a>\u00a0(Mesa, Arizona \/ Red Mountain HS), infielder\/outfielder Jakobi Nebeker<\/a> (Pocatello, Idaho \/ Pocatello HS), outfielder\/infielder Haylee Lopez<\/a>\u00a0(San Tan Valley, Ariz. \/ Poston Butte HS), catcher\/utility player Hailey Holliday<\/a>\u00a0(Scottsdale, Ariz. \/ Saguaro HS) and infielder\/right-handed pitcher Jazmin Ramirez<\/a>\u00a0(Chandler, Ariz. \/ Hamilton HS).\u00a0<\/p>\n Additionally, USU added two new assistant coaches to the dugout. Jared McDonald<\/a>,\u00a0a former Arizona State and professional infielder, joins the Aggies as an assistant coach, as does former UCLA pitcher Jada Cecil<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE Matej is a two-time all-MW honoree and also earned NFCA Pacific Region Second Team honors in 2024. As a junior last season, she played in and started 50 of the team’s 52 games, posting a .327 batting average while going 53-for-162 at the plate. She totaled 11 doubles on the year, with a triple and 10 home runs, while her 36 runs scored rank tied for seventh most in a season in program history. \u00a0<\/p>\n Pratt\u00a0had a breakout season as a junior in 2025 to earn all-Mountain West first team accolades. She started 46 games while making 49 appearances, ranking fifth on the squad with a .363 batting average as she went 49-for-135 at the plate. Pratt recorded 11 doubles and nine home runs last season, totaling 34 RBIs and 21 runs scored while drawing 11 walks and recording a .423 on-base percentage with a .644 slugging percentage, 10th-best in the Mountain West. \u00a0<\/p>\n A SEASON FOR THE AGES The Aggies set program records for batting average (.340), hits (493), runs (340), doubles (90), home runs (66), runs batted in (319), total bases (807), slugging percentage (.557), walks drawn (181), hits by pitch (50) and on-base percentage (.428).\u00a0<\/p>\n ONE LAST CLIMB UP NEXT – USU –<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PLAY BALL! Utah State softball (10-14, 0-0 MW) begins Mountain West play this weekend with a three-game series…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":216690,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":{"0":"post-216689","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fresno","8":"tag-fresno","9":"tag-fresno-headlines","10":"tag-fresno-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216689\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nUtah State is coming off of an 0-4 showing last week, falling in a trio of road games at Kansas before also falling in the team’s home opener against Idaho State. Sophomore outfielder Faith Kroening<\/a>\u00a0recorded the first home run of her career while freshman infielder Jazmin Ramirez<\/a> led the team with a .444 batting average (4-for-9) while also making her career pitching debut with 0.2 innings pitched at Kansas.<\/p>\n
\nUtah State sophomore outfielder Faith Kroening<\/a>\u00a0is having a major breakout season. After playing primarily as a pinch runner in 2025, totaling just four hits in 30 at-bats for a .133 batting average, Kroening\u00a0has started all 24 games this season and ranks first on the squad with a .387 batting average (29-for-75).<\/p>\n
\nEntering the week, Utah State ranks 79th nationally and ranks second in the Mountain West in fielding percentage at 0.968. On the year, USU has 434 putouts and 212 assists with just 24 errors. Seven different Aggie players have a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nSenior infielder Kenzee Olsen<\/a> rewrote her personal record book with one swing in the Aggies’ Feb. 21 matchup against Seton Hall. With two outs and the bases loaded, Olsen hit a grand slam to left field to break open an eventual 8-3 victory. She tallied not only hit her first career grand slam, but her first career home run and RBIs.<\/p>\n
\nSophomore catcher Jaelyn Castillo<\/a> currently ranks 30th in the nation and second in the Mountain West with six runners caught stealing this season.<\/p>\n
\nUtah State opened its 2026 campaign with a strong start Feb. 5-7 at the Texas A&M-hosted Aggie Classic, going 4-1 with two wins over Abilene Christian, a win over Bryant and a win over Providence. The team’s lone loss came to No. 11 Texas A&M.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nThe Utah State pitching staff showed out during opening week.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nUtah State returns four starters in the field and 12 letterwinners overall from last year’s squad, including four pitchers. All four returning starters in the field are seniors this season \u2014 outfielder Kya Pratt<\/a>, infielder Alex Bunton<\/a>\u00a0and catchers Grace Matej<\/a>\u00a0and Kaylee Erickson<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\nUtah State welcomes in 10 newcomers this season, including two transfers and eight true freshmen. Transfer additions include junior infielder Keely Goush\u00e1\u00a0(Boise State) and freshman infielder Kate Vance<\/a>\u00a0(Arizona).<\/p>\n
\nA pair of Aggies were named to the preseason all-Mountain West team, as voted on by the league’s coaches. Senior catcher Grace Matej<\/a>\u00a0and senior outfielder Kya Pratt<\/a>\u00a0were each honored.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nUtah State had a historic offensive season in 2025, shattering several long-standing program records.<\/p>\n
\nThe 2026 campaign will be the final season for Utah State as a member of the Mountain West Conference, as the Aggies will join the Pac-12 beginning July 1, 2026. USU will join existing members Oregon State and Washington State, along with new additions Gonzaga, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Texas State. Utah State has been a member of the Mountain West since 2013.<\/p>\n
\nUtah State heads into the thick of Mountain West competition with a three-game home series against Nevada on March 20-22 at Johnson Field. The Aggies will host the Wolf Pack on Friday at 4 p.m. followed by Saturday and Sunday contests both beginning at noon.<\/p>\n