Utah Softball Beats No. 1 Arizona... Again!

The No. 14 Utah softball team won the series against No. 1 Arizona with a walk-off hit from freshman Alyssa Barrera with two outs to get the 3-2. Her hit scored freshman Ryely Ball, who was pinch-running for freshman Kelly Martinez. Yesterday, Utah defeated the No. 1 ranked team in the country for the first time in program history, now today they have won the series against the No. 1 ranked team in the country for the first time. Below is the highlight of the game winning hit:

"We had the momentum, I know we did," Barrera said. "We were having good at-bats the whole game. I mean, the game would pay us back with something falling in a hole or something getting through, because we were putting good swings on her pitches."

"What's really fun for me is the freshmen there in that last inning," Utah head coach Amy Hogue said. "Alyssa and Kelly were the difference makers. Those two are so big for us in our lineup this year."

Miranda Viramontes, who was the winning pitcher, got the Utes out of a bases loaded jam in the top of the seventh inning to set up the game winner in the bottom of the seventh. She shut out the Wildcats, a team that came in leading in the nation in slugging percentage and home runs, in the final 3 ²⁄₃ innings.

I predict a bump in the rankings for the Utah softball team after winning the series against the top team in the nation. Coming into this series, Arizona was riding a 26-game winning streak and had only lost to then-No. 1 Florida State (who ranks No. 1 in the coaches poll and No. 2 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll). Utah is the only team to defeat the Wildcats this season in a three-game series, and the only team in the Pac-12 to defeat Arizona.

"These series are really helping this team to get a feel for what postseason is going to feel like," Hogue added. "We wanted to win this game, but we really did want to use it as preparation for a postseason atmosphere."