Utah softball’s long-awaited opener in World Series postponed to Friday after multiple weather delays in OKC
The University of Utah softball team’s 29-year wait to play in the Women’s College World Series will last for at least one more day.
Utah’s scheduled WCWS opener against Washington in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, was postponed late Thursday night because of the weather.
“We have a lot of tools, and we absolutely belong here. We have earned it, and I like our chances.” — Utah softball coach Amy Hogue.
The No. 15 seed Utes (42-14) and No. 7 seed Huskies (43-13), Pac-12 rivals, did not even see the field on Thursday in what was supposed to be Game 4 of the tournament. That is because the first pitch in Game 3 pitting No. 6 Oklahoma State and No. 3 Florida State was delayed an hour and 14 minutes.
Then, in the third inning, another weather delay came and lasted an hour and 46 minutes.
At some point during the second weather delay, officials announced that the Utah-Washington game would be played Friday.
The starting time for the Friday’s game had not been announced as of 9 p.m. MDT.
The Utah-Washington winner will meet the winner of Oklahoma State-Florida State on Saturday. Florida State had a 2-0 lead in the top of the third inning when that game resumed just before 9 p.m. MDT Thursday and had stretched it to 3-0 moments after play resumed.
Losers of games 3 and 4 were scheduled to play Friday at 7:30 p.m. MDT, potentially a bad break for the Utes or Huskies — forcing the loser to play two games in one day — unless the schedule is changed and that game is pushed into Saturday.
In the first two games of the WCWS on Thursday, No. 4 seed Tennessee downed No. 5 seed Alabama 10-5 and No. 1 seed Oklahoma blanked No. 9 Stanford, 2-0.
Regarding the matchup of teams that split four games this season and postseason, Utah coach Amy Hogue said there won’t be many surprises either way.
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“We know a whole lot about them and they know a whole lot about us, so I would assume the score would be a little higher because of that, but we will see,” Hogue told the Deseret News in a telephone interview Wednesday.
Although the Utes are taking an “underdog mentality approach,” in Hogue’s words, they are confident that they can make some noise in OKC.
“We have a lot of tools, and we absolutely belong here,” she said. “We have earned it, and I like our chances.”
