The drought is over: Utes beat Aztecs 7-2 to secure first College World Series berth since 1994

SALT LAKE CITY — A lot has changed in 29 years. But for Utah softball, there's at least one thing that remains consistent.

The 1994 softball team, which was then a member of the WAC, was the last Utah team to make an appearance in the College World Series — and the only team in four tries to secure a win while there. On that roster was a young Amy Hogue, who was named a second-team All-American and the WAC Player of the Year that season.

Now the head coach of the program she once led on the field, Hogue has done it again.

Utah softball punched its ticket to Oklahoma City and the College World Series with a 7-2 win over San Diego State on Sunday in the rubber match game of a best-of-three super regional series on Utah's home field.

The generational drought is over.

"It has been too long," Hogue said. "They have been building and doing all the things that it takes to get there. You can't take what we just did for granted. It's incredibly hard. I just talked to my former coach who has been there. Took me there, led us there — Jo Evans — and she took her program there. She said you have to enjoy every minute of it because it is just so hard to get there. You're going; go and have a good time."

"Coming from my freshman and sophomore year, it was hard because we didn't even have a shot at postseason," left fielder Haley Denning said. "So coming and seeing this year how hard everyone has worked, it has just been insane and super awesome. It is awesome to see how the team has grown in the past five years since I have been here. Now it is crazy we get to be one of the top eight teams."

Utah used a strong second inning to put distance on a San Diego State squad that managed one run earlier in the inning after putting pressure on starting pitcher Mariah Lopez. Sophie Jacquez got the bats going for the Utes with a single to shortstop, which was followed two batters later by a triple from Abby Dayton to send Jacquez home.

Denning then singled to third base to put runners on first and third. A pitch later, Denning stole second base — her 100th of her career — to put both runners in scoring position. Shelbi Ortiz then hit a hard ground ball to pitcher Allie Light, who bobbled the ball for an error that allowed Ortiz to get on base, while two runs scored and Light kept her back to the runners.

It was a costly error that gave Utah some momentum that it never game up.

The Utes added to the score sheet in the fifth inning with a run scored by Ortiz, who got home on a reached on error hit by Julia Jimenez to shortstop. They added to the score sheet on a single to left center from Halle Morris, who pitch hit for Aliya Belarde, that scored two runs with two outs on the board.

At that point, Utah could taste the victory and needed just three more outs to send the team to their fifth College World Series in program history.

It took Utah pitcher Sarah Ladd five batters to get the job done, with the help of some good defense from her teammates, but Utah punched its ticket to Oklahoma City.

"The crowd fired us up," Hogue said, speaking to the school record 3,083 fans in attendance. "It was just meant to be for us to be here and celebrate this, because either way we were maybe going to go get it done on the road, but to be able to be with everyone here together and enjoy it with our fans, it just means so much more."

San Diego State threatened to blow open the game with bases loaded in the top of the fifth inning and two outs, but Utah's Lopez managed a timely strikeout to end the inning and keep the clean sheet for the Utes. The Aztecs got to Lopez a bit in the fourth and forced her into 31 pitches, and again in the fifth inning with a pair of walks.

But Lopez did enough in her time to help Utah to a win before Ladd replaced her in the sixth inning. Lopez finished the day with six strikeouts against 24 batters faced and allowed only four hits and one earned run in five innings. Ladd pitched two innings

With the win, the Utes will now face off against conference foe Washington, which swept Louisiana in the Seattle super regional, on Thursday (7:30 p.m. MDT). The Utes and Huskies met up four times this season and split the games. Washington, which is ranked seventh, won the three-game series 2-1 against Utah at the end of April, but Utah got its revenge in the Pac-12 Tournament with an 8-4 semifinal win to advance to the championship game.

The other two teams in Utah's double-elimination bracket include third-ranked Florida State and sixth-ranked Oklahoma State — both of which swept their respective super regional opponents. Utah's lone win in the College World Series came against Oklahoma State, a 2-0 result, on May 26, 1994.

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