Ute, Cougar, Ag softball teams head to Vegas

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Las Vegas • The University of Utah, BYU and Utah State softball teams will participate in the Louisville Slugger Desert Classic in Las Vegas starting Thursday.

BYU will face Portland State Thursday and then play Cal State Northridge, Memphis, Indiana and DePaul over the following two days. The Cougars are 3-2 after defeating nationally-ranked Texas A&M and Oregon. Senior Delaney Willard has nine hits,including three home runs and three doubles in the Cougars' first five games.

The Utes start the weekend Friday morning with a game against San Jose State, and then meet Indiana in the afternoon. The Utes meet Portland State Saturday and then close out the weekend with a doubleheader Sunday with games against UC Riverside and Cal State Northridge.

The Utes split their first four games of the season at the 2012 Kajikawa Classic last weekend, losing to San Diego State and UC Santa Barbara but beating Western Michigan and Portland State. Senior third baseman Whitney Holm hit a home run in each of Utah's first three games and added five RBIs and four runs scored over the opening weekend. Shortstop Kelsi Hoopiiaina hit .500 in the final two games of the weekend, while senior pitcher Generra Nielson pitched a pair of complete games and picked up two wins.

Utah State opens play Friday with games against Cal State Northridge and UC Riverside and then plays Indiana on Saturday, before meeting Texas Tech and LSU on Sunday. The Aggies are 2-2 overall thus far this season. The Aggies return six starters from a year ago.