Utah ready for Women’s College World Series for first time since 1994

Who do you think will win the matchup between Washington and Utah?

The No. 15 Utah Utes beat the San Diego State Aztecs 7-2 to advance to their first Women’s College World Series (WCWS) since 1994. This will be the sixth program appearance at the WCWS and they will face No. 7 Washington in Oklahoma City on Thursday at 9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.

“I think we play better if we believe we are the underdog, so I think we are making sure to stay on that plane,” coach Amy Hogue told the Deseret News Wednesday afternoon. “But we know better. We have beat the best of the best, and we know if we play loose we can beat anybody.”
Washington and Utah are both in the Pac-12 Conference, so they are familiar with each other’s games. However, the Utes seem to be peaking at just the right time and San Diego State’s head coach had glowing words for them after her team’s loss.
“They’re a gritty squad. We’ve played some really, really good teams this year and I feel like … everybody (at Utah) can do everything in terms of, they have a short game,” said Aztecs head coach Stacey Nuveman Deniz. “As a defense, it’s hard to play them. They seem to be playing with a lot of confidence. I think they’re going go in and make some noise. You saw what they did in the Pac-12 tournament. They’ve got a complete team and they’re inspired. That’s a pretty dangerous combination.”
Coach Deniz is referring to Utah winning the 2023 Pac-12 softball tournament championship after beating No. 1 seed UCLA 7-4.

The WCWS is a double-elimination format and the final two teams play a best-of-three series for the national championship beginning June 7. The tournament runs from June 1 – June 9, if necessary.