Softball | 3/26/2025 4:15:00 PM

(St. George, Utah - March 26, 2025) - The Trailblazers close out the month of March this weekend at Abilene Christain facing the Wildcats on Friday and Saturday at Poly Wells Field.

Game #33
Who | Utah Tech (12-20, 3-6 WAC) at Abilene Christian (8-24, 4-5 WAC)
When | Friday, March 28 / 1 p.m. MT
Where | Poly Wells Field / Abilene, Texas
Social Media | Instagram + Twitter (X)

Game #34
Who | Utah Tech (12-20, 3-6 WAC) at Abilene Christian (8-24, 4-5 WAC)
When | Friday, March 28 / 3 p.m. MT
Where | Poly Wells Field / Abilene, Texas
Social Media | Instagram + Twitter (X)

Game #35
Who | Utah Tech (12-20, 3-6 WAC) at Abilene Christian (8-24, 4-5 WAC)
When | Saturay, March 29 / 11 a.m. MT
Where | Poly Wells Field / Abilene, Texas
Social Media | Instagram + Twitter (X)

LAST TIME OUT
The Trailblazers are coming off a hard-fought 3-2 loss at UNLV on Tuesday afternoon.

Utah Tech tallied six hits in the contest getting base knocks from six different Trailblazers with Lakaiya-Braessia Kahahawai-Kekona registering her team-leading third triple of the season and scored a run. Maka Sonognini scored the Trailblazers other run, stole a base and added a single.

The Trailblazers got the scoring started in the top of the first with Kahahawai-Kekona lacing a two-out triple down the right field line and came around to score on a wild pitch.

The Rebels responded with a run in the second with a lead off home run, but Utah Tech came back with a run in the fourth on an RBI ground out by Carly Eldredge to second base driving home Sonognini from third.

UNLV answered back with a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame tying the game at two on an RBI infield single by Ariana Martinez and Karmyna Beccera hit the go-ahead RBI single through the left side of the infield.

Singles by Drew McKown and Sadie Gardner got the fifth inning started for the Trailblazers and after the pair moved up to second and third thanks to a sacrifice bunt by Cassidy Hornung, the Trailblazers were unable to get the tying run across as the next two batters were retired.

ABOUT THE ABILENE CHRISTIAN WILDCATS
Abilene Christian is 8-24 overall on the season and enters the weekend in a three-way tie for fifth in the WAC along with Southern Utah and Tarleton State with a 4-5 mark.

The Wildcats are 3-0 at home on the season after sweeping Southern Utah in Abilene two weeks ago. ACU opened WAC play at Seattle U being swept by the Redhawks and are coming off winning one of three at UT Arlington last weekend.

ACU went 16-32 overall record in 2024 and finished ninth in the WAC regular season standings with an 8-18 mark. 

As a team this season, the Wildcats are hitting .232 as a team to rank ninth in the WAC and are averaging 2.7 runs per game.

The Wildcats are led at the plate by the bat of senior Taylor Bachmeyer, who is hitting .337 and leads the team in at-bats (98), runs (13), hits (33), total bases (42) and on-base percentage (.398).

Sophomore Audrey Lacina leads the way with seven doubles and redshirt senior Valerie Ornelas has a team-high 10 RBI.

In the circle, Abilene Christian is seventh in the WAC in ERA at 5.72 and a 0.9 strikeout-to-walk ratio while opponents are hitting .294 and averaging 6.2 runs per game. Opponents are 14-0 on the season when scoring seven or more runs.

Senior pitcher Lina Russo has a team-leading four wins, a 3.39 ERA and tops the WAC in starts (16), complete games (11) & innings pitched (103.1) and is third in strikeouts (63). 

Sophomore Ella Beeman has a pair of wins in 36.0 innings and Chase Mueller and Taylor Haywood have one win apiece.

SERIES HISTORY VS. ABILENE CHRISTIAN
The Trailblazers lead the overall series against Abilene Christian, 5-1 with the Trailblazers taking two of three games against the Wildcats in 2024 winning 9-6 in the WAC opener and took the series finale, 12-9.

Utah Tech swept a three-game series in Abilene in the two teams first series in 2023 winning contests, 12-2, 6-5 in nine innings and 14-9.

WAC RANKINGS IN 2025
The Trailblazers lead the WAC in hits and rank 40th nationally in hits with 271.

Utah Tech is also second in the conference in batting average (.311), stolen bases (47), total bases (353) & sacrifice bunts (26), third in runs (171), walks (101) & scoring (5.34) and fourth in on-base percentage (.385), RBI (152) & slugging percentage (.406).

Individually, Kahahawai-Kekona ranks fourth in the WAC in hits (39), batting average (.415) & RBI (28) and is sixth in walks (16).

Hornung sits seventh in the WAC hitting .378 from the plate, ranks third in runs (28), is fourth in the conference with 10 stolen bases and leads the conference with nine sacrifice bunts.

In the circle, Sauren Garton ranks third in the WAC in complete games (6), fourth in starts (14) & innings pitched (83.0) & is seventh in strikeouts (58).

Riley Price leads the Trailblazers with six wins, tied for fifth in the WAC, and has tossed 71.2 innings (seventh in WAC) in 17 appearances and has struck out 35.

FIVE THE MAGIC NUMBER
The Trailblazers have reached five or more runs in 11 of their 12 wins this season and are 11-9 overall on the season when reaching the five-run plateau.

CLOSE CONTESTS
Five of the Trailblazers 20 losses this season have been in extra innings as Utah Tech has dropped games in eight innings to CSUN, Sacramento State, Hawaii, Idaho State and Omaha.

In addition, four more losses have been by three or fewer runs and a total of six losses this season have been by one run.

Overall in five seasons in Division I, the Trailblazers are 5-12 in extra innings with a 3-0 record in 2021, 0-1 in 2022, 1-4 in 2023 and 1-2 in 2024.

UTAH TECH IN WAC PLAY
The Trailblazers is in their fifth season of WAC play with a 48-52 overall mark. The Blazers are 29-24 at home and 19-28 on the road

UT went 12-13 in WAC play in 2024 finishing fifth in the conference and fell to Southern Utah in WAC Tournament.

The Trailblazers captured the WAC regular season crown in 2023 with a 19-5 overall record, including an 11-1 mark at home.

UT went 8-16 in WAC play in 2022 and finished fifth in the West Division posting a 4-8 mark on the road as well as at home. 

In their first season of WAC play in 2021, the Blazers went 6-12 to finish sixth in the WAC.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN 
Utah Tech is 202-124 (.620) overall on the road in the NCAA era.

The Trailblazers are 175-103 (.629) on the road under head coach Randy Simkins.

UP NEXT
The Trailblazers are back home next weekend to open the month of April hosting Tarleton State (18-14, 4-5 WAC) on April 4-5 at Karl Brooks Field.