USU Eastern’s Ashley Sweat touches home for a score against CNCC on April 6, 2018. (Photo Credit: Derick Levy)
Utah State Eastern softball won their road series against Colorado Northwest 4-0 on Friday and Saturday in Rangely, Colorado.
The sweep of the Spartans gives USU Eastern their second of the season and snaps an eight-game losing streak.
Offensively the Eagles put up 74 runs in the four-game series including 28 in game two.
“This team is great at hitting the ball when they have there confidence and they swing at strikes. They decided to take an approach to the box that they were going to swing at good pitches and they did that this weekend. I am very proud of them,” said USU Eastern Head Coach Brittani Richins.
Freshman Ashley Sweat had a big weekend fo USU Eastern at the plate. Sweat led the Eagles with a .786 batting average and 11 hits.
Sweat also had six doubles, eight RBIs, and a home run against CNCC.
“I have been waiting for Ashley to break out of her shell when it came to swinging the bat this year. She has been dealing with an injury and we finally have her healthy,” said Richins. “ I am excited for her future in this conference and her ability to be a threat in the batter’s box.”
Cassidy Howe led the Eagles in RBIs with 11 while batting .667 with eight hits and a home run.
McKenzie Dorney also had a great weekend at the plate with nine hits, two doubles and 10 RBIs.
Pitchers Angelique Lokeni and Carlye Levy each picked up two wins for the Eagles inside the pitching circle.
The duo only allowed ten hits all weekend and combined threw 15 strikeouts against CNCC.
“The pitchers did great this weekend with moving the ball and throwing around the batters. My catchers call the games for them and they have meshed and they are all working well together,” said Richins.
The Eagles now have a 15-19 overall record and a 10-14 conference record.
USU Eastern will hit the road for their final series away from Price this weekend when they go to Taylorsville to take on the Salt Lake Community College Bruins. Earlier this season the Bruins swept the Eagles at home.
Richins said that her team will have to bring the same confidence they played with in Rangely if they hope to get some wins against a tough SLCC team.
“If we approach the box with the same confidence that we did this weekend then we will be great next weekend. We also need to keep our energy up when were in the dugout. I gave the girls a challenge to find their team’s swag and I think that are starting to figure out what that is,” said Richins.
After this week, the Eagles are home three straight weekends to finish the regular season.
They currently sit in fourth place in their conference standings, five games behind Snow College in the loss column.