Utah and Loyola Marymount Notes

[TropicalSooner]

Utah --

The Utes bring a 7-3 winning record into Mary Nutter and expanded it to 8-3 with their first game win over Taco Tech 6-2. Their record is perhaps a bit generous given the teams they have beaten, such as Northern Colo, UC San Diego, Ohio, and so on. Two of their losses come at the hands of No. 18 LSU and the other one to Central Arkansas.
The starters for Utah is another veteran lineup with mostly Juniors and Seniors and 5th year players. there are a couple of Freshmen that have cracked their lineup at SS and CF. Six starters are hitting .300+ and half of those over .400. As a team, Including todays game with TT, they have 16 2Bs, 4 3Bs, and 5 HRs. They've walked 29 times but struck out 36 times. Their pitching staff is veteran also, led by Junior Mariah Lopez 1.14 ERA. Lopez has 37.0 IP and hs 47 k's and 5 BBs. Their #2 is Grad Sydney Sandez, 1.75 ERA. She has 9 k's and 3 BBs scattered over 20.0 IP. The other two backups, Seniors Sarah Ladd and Haile Morris have only 11.1 iP between them. Sandez and Morris were the two pitchers that kept the Sooners at bay last year in the famous 2-1 game that had Sooner fans sweating. We'll see if they stick to that same formula with a larger pitching staff this time around.

Loyola Marymount --

The Lions are having a much rockier start to their season. They are 4-8 going into the Mary Nutter Tournament, but their losses come at the hands of teams like Stanford, Cal, UCLA, Washington, Kentucky, and so on. They did hold Kentucky down to a 1-0 win which is very un-Kentucky like. The Lions' wins are not impressive though against teams like CSU Bakersfield, Utah Valley, and so on. Loyola Marymount appears to be rebuilding with a young team with a lot of their starters being Freshmen and Sophomores with a couple of Seniors sprinkled in. Their pitching staff is mixed with underclassmen and a couple of Juniors.
As a team, the Lions' offense is anemic and hitting .219. They have two starters hitting .300+ and the rest lag behind. Their pitching staff is anchored by Junior Jenna Perez having the most innings at 40.1 IP but has a 3.12 ERA. She does have 52 k's but also 17 BBs. The pitcher with the next most innings is Soph Jessica Hubbard with a 3.00 ERA over 11.2 IP, 16 k's and 2 BBs.


With the way our bench players and Freshmen have stepped up while our offense was trying to find its footing, there's a hidden advantage that now comes to light. Opposing teams no longer can focus only on the original set of "regulars" in the lineup. Everyone on the Roster has proven their mettle and can sub in or start for the Sooners, and now the opponents have to think about and plan for members of our team that they might not have thought they would face.

The Sooners will definitely not be taking the Utah game lightly, but also don't overlook the youth of the Loyola Marymount Lions.