Softball seeks upswing in Utah

April 21, 2016, 12:14 a.m.

Stanford softball (13-23, 0-12 Pac-12) will travel to Salt Lake City this weekend for a three-game series against the Utah Utes (27-13, 8-4). The Cardinal will look to turn things around as they are currently riding a six-game slump and have lost nine of their last 10 games.

In order to put up a fight against Utah, Stanford will need to step up offensively. In recent weeks, the Cardinal’s bats have gone cold, and they have scored three or fewer runs in each of their last five games. Perennial powerhouses Kayla Bonstrom and Kylie Sorenson will look to continue their strong play. The senior and junior lead the team with respective batting averages of .294 and .339. As offense has been sporadic, the Cardinal will seek consistency to plate runners and strand fewer players on base.

In the circle, Carolyn Lee and Hayley Snyder have put up relatively strong performances, but their efforts are futile without run support.

For its part, Utah is coming off of a sweep of No. 22 Arizona State. Sophomore pitcher Katie Donovan was named Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week and junior outfielder Kay Kay Fronda was selected as Player of the Week for their respective performances against the Sun Devils.

The Utes boast two players with batting averages above .400 – Anissa Urtez (.403) and Hannah Flippen (.400). Urtez also contributes heavily in the infield, as she leads the Pac-12 in fielding assists.

The Cardinal will need to snap out of their recent offensive slump in order to take a game from the dominant Utes. As Stanford seeks its first conference win, the team will need to contribute consistently and hit with runners in scoring position.

Stanford takes on Utah at 5 p.m. on Friday, 4 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m. on Sunday. The games will be available for streaming on Pac-12.com.

 

Contact Olivia Hummer at [email protected].

Olivia Hummer '17 is a managing editor of The Daily's sports section and writes about volleyball, football and baseball. When she's not filling in as an emergency copy editor, she can be found curled up in a ball bemoaning the misfortunes of her beloved Seattle Mariners or cursing the misuse of the Stanford Athletics logo. Olivia is a senior majoring in history from Covina, California, and can be reached at ohummer 'at' stanford.edu.

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