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Show Monday, April 5, 2010 StatesmanSports Page I Softball: Aggies sweep Wolf Pack continued from page 9 right field with the bases loaded and one out. The hit of the inning was Megan McDonald's double into right center field that brought in Simone Hubbard and Xiao Xue Chang. With that hit, USU jumped out to a 4-1 lead, and the Pack had to make a change. Nevada switched out Katie Holverson's pitching for that of Mallory Darby, but before the inning was out, USU scored two more and took a 6-1 lead it wouldn't relinquish. The defining moment of the first game was the last at bat in the bottom of the sixth by Tyteca. Millsap-Kabala put Tyteca in to pinch hit for the Aggie shortstop Rachel Evans and Tyteca sent out a monstrous grand-slam home run. The Aggie blast put USU up 12-4 and ended the game by the eight-run rule, also known as the mercy rule. Tyteca said she was pleased and credited her teammates for the opportunity she had to end the first game. "It's nice to see that we had the runs beforehand for me to have that opportunity," Tyteca said. "It's nice to see my teammates producing as well. It's awesome to see that kind of hitting out of our team. We work really hard." Millsap-Kabala said Tyteca's bat has been one of the more consistent on the team. "A pinch hit grand slam," Millsap-Kabala said. "She made me look like a genius. She's come along and being so much more positive about her game and having a lot more confidence in who she is as a player and on the field. It's amazing to see. She had a rough go at the beginning, and she's just a totally different person now. We're really excited to see how consistent she'll stay over the course of time." In the second game, Nevada looked to turn things around and after five innings, the Nevada had taken a three-run lead. Neither team scored through two innings, and in the third, the Pack struck first on an error by Evans. Ellingsworth stopped the bleeding quickly and the Pack only got away with one unearned run. USU came back again in the fourth. USU DH Kali Cancelosi started the inning off strong with a solo home run and locked up the score at one apiece. After a Megan McDonald single to center field, Tina Furguson blasted another out of the park and put the Aggies up two. The Pack was far from done. With two outs in the fifth, freshman Mandy Harmon got herself into trouble. She allowed two base hits and then walked Nevada's Sam Bias to load the bases. Millsap-Kabala wasted no time and pulled her out, and sent in the starter from the first game to cleanup. Kate Greenough took the mound needing a single out at any base to end the inning, and that's when Nevada got its vengeance for Tyteca's grand slam. Nevada's Britton Murdock sent a grand slam of her own flying, emptied the bases,and put the Pack back in front, 5-3. Nevada didn't stop and was, once again, able to load the bases with two out after USU allowed one additional run, but Greenough got the inning-ending ground ball to third and stopped the bleeding before the game got too far out of reach. The Aggies kept their mental toughness, and it paid off in a big way in the sixth. USU started strong with a Cancelosi single, and Tyteca responded to Murdock's grand slam by hitting a two-run shot of her own. Suddenly the Ags were within one with zero outs. The bats kept coming and USU took advantage of two timely errors to rack off six additional runs in the bottom of the sixth, totaling eight by the time Nevada was able to take over. Millsap-Kabala described the importance of those errors. "Errors happen on both sides, whether mental or physical," she said. "It's part of the game. That happens in any sport — basketball, football, whetever — if you can take advantage of a mental error, good for you. Mental errors kill you. We try to take advantage on our side, and I think every team does. It's just a question of if you can be timely on the other side and use it to your benefit." Greenough returned in the top of the seventh and silenced two batters at the plate before forcing an out at first, ending the game. USU will continue its homestand on Tuesday and Wednesday against the Wahine of Hawaii. Tuesday's game starts at 3 p.m. at the USU softball field on 800 East. — la.hem@aggiemail.usu.edu 1:5 twontoon Egg Hunt Food & Games 11-3 11:00 am Falk 12 - 2 King Niko 7:00jorn Step Show - Ballroom 9:00 prn DJ Marcus Wing 10 cirri All Events on the Quad unless specified. Men's tennis drop two meets in Hawaii, two get postponed By KAYLA CLARK staff writer Utah State men's tennis had a rough start to its weekend of play in Hawaii. Its first match resulted in a loss to Hawaii Pacific, 5-2. The loss the HPU dropped the men to a 10-9, while Hawaii Pacific, who is ranked fifth nationally, improved 19-3 with the win against USU. Junior Jakob Asplund dropped the No. 1 singles point, losing to Nikola Petrov, 7-5, 6-1. Freshman Sven Poslusny lost as well, in the No. 2 position, to Aleksander Markov 7-6. 6-0. Junior Bryan Marchant raked in the first of two points for USU, defeating Dominic Mclusky 6-1, 3-6, 6-2. The No. 4 point was dropped by senior Amit Maharaj, who lost to Daniel Luedi, 64, 6-0. Junior Nikita Ryashchenko brought in USU's final point at No. 5, beating Sebastian Bader 7-5, 1-6, 3-1. Singles action was wrapped up by Jose Limon in the No. 6 seat, losing to HPU's Anton Samuilau, 6-1, 6-1. USU dropped the doubles point with losses at the No. 1 and 2 positions. Limon and Ryashchenko, at No. 3, were the only team to win, beating HPU's Markov and Petrov, 8-6. Asplund and Poslusny lost 9-7 to Mclusky and Bader at the No. 1 posi- tion, and Maharaj and Marchant lost to Hawaii's Samuilau and Luedi, 8-4. Head coach Christian Wright said of the the match, "We are playing very good, seasoned, nationally ranked teams. I expect my boys to play their best, and they don't let me down. Hawaii was a tough match, and although we lost overall, we had a few victories in there. I expect them to come out and play their best for every match, no matter who we play." The men were scheduled to face off with Fresno State and Hawaii, both Western Athletic Conference foes, on Saturday, April 3. Due to rainy weather in Hawaii, neither of the matches were able to be carried out. No makeup date for the matches has been set yet. Both matches against the Bulldogs and the Rainbow Warriors were the Ags' final WAC matches of the regular season. USU will not face another conference opponent until the WAC tournament April 30 - May 2 in Fresno, Calif. The men still hold their season record of 10-9, and 0-4 in WAC play. In the next two weeks, USU will wrap up in-state action with a match at Weber State on Wednesday, April 7, and a home match against Idaho State on the 21. — kayla.clark@aggiemail.usu.edu USU tops in winter sports academic all-WAC selections BY USU ATHLETICS The Western Athletic Conference announced its winter all-academic teams on Friday and Utah State had 43 studentathletes recognized from the sports of gymnastics, men's and women's basketball, and men's and women's indoor track and field to lead the league. Of its 43 academic all-WAC selections, Utah State had 16 student-athletes from men's indoor track honored, along with 14 from women's indoor track, six from women's basketball, four from gymnastics and three from men's basketball. Utah State's men's track program led all WAC schools with its 16 honorees, while both the women's (6) and men's (3) basketball programs tied for the most academic all-WAC selections among the other institutions, and women's indoor track ranked second in the league with its 14 honorees. Boise State had 41 winter academic all-WAC honorees to rank second behind Utah State's 43. Idaho was third with 39 academic all-WAC recipients, followed by New Mexico State (36), Fresno State (24), Nevada (22), Hawai'i (20), San Jose State (16) and Louisiana Tech (7). Senior Erin Stratton, who competes in cross country, and both indoor and outdoor track, has now earned academic all-WAC honors eight times in her career, while senior cross country/track athlete Steve Strickland earned his seventh academic all-WAC honor. Of the 43 USU student-athletes to earn winter academic allWAC honors, 35 are receiving the accolade for at least the second time. To be eligible for the winter academic team, a student-athlete must have completed one academic year, have at least a 3.00 cumulative grade-point average and have participated in at least 50 percent of the team's contests. gil 1 mos, TONS OF GIVARYS ANS GREM RISERS 0.11 H PM WEST OF THE BUSINESS Snots LIBRARY LAWN) WANNA RIDE? SIGN UP AT: GALVANICDESIGN.COM/APPLY DIRECTIVE BOARDSHOP Viq moufiqt)tifi UtaltStateUn iversity HUNTSMAN.USU.EDU/ENTREPRENEURCLUB |