Three years ago the University of Utah softball team felt fortunate to just be a part of the eight-team NCAA World Series. The Utes, who started four freshmen in 1991, were out of the double-elimination tournament in two games.
This year Utah has a different attitude. While it's nice just to be in the World Series again, this time around they're in it to win it."This time our team thinks it can play in the championship game," said Utah coach Jo Evans prior to her team leaving for Oklahoma City Tuesday afternoon for the tournament that begins Thursday and runs through Monday. "Before (1991) we had a lot of inexperienced freshmen and were just happy to be there."
Utah (50-11) is the sixth seed. The Utes will play third-seeded Oklahoma State (43-10) Thursday at 5 p.m. MDT in the opening round. Utah is in the same bracket as fellow WAC member Cal State-Northridge (49-8), the second seed, and seventh-seed Missouri (40-21). The other bracket has top-ranked Arizona (60-3), No. 8 Illinois-Chicago (56-17), fourth-seeded UCLA (41-12) and fifth-seeded Fresno State (48-14), the third WAC representative.
The Utes' inexperienced freshmen of '91 are the backbone of the team now. Amy Timmel, the team's second baseman, earned WAC Player of the Year honors. Timmel hit .464 with 25 RBI and a team-record seven triples.
The left side of the infield has also been to the World Series before. Scooter Hoshide, who is hitting .366, has been a four-year starter at shortstop, while senior third baseman Wendy Stewart is also a career starter. Stewart is hitting .330 this year with 29 RBI.
Behind the plate the Utes have the best catcher in school history in four-time all-WAC selection Deb Dimeglio. She hit a career best .337 this year with 43 RBI while acting as a coach on the field to freshman pitcher Ali Andrus.
Utah will be playing Oklahoma State on a diamond much closer to Stillwater than Salt Lake, but the Utes aren't worried. After all, Utah downed No. 2 Southwestern Louisiana twice on its home field in the regional last weekend, breaking a 53-game Lady Cajun home winning streak.
"If we play like we did last weekend we can be very successful," Evans said. "Our goal is to win the championship. We don't just want to play a game or two.
"I'm almost happy to be playing Oklahoma State because we play very well on our opponents' home fields. I realize it's not OSU's home field, but it's as close as you can get."