Utah Tech Softball Makes History

This is the biggest win for Utah Tech so far in the Division-1 era.

The Trailblazer softball team won the WAC regular season championship and has six players on all-WAC teams, including four who made the first team.

Per the press release from the Media Relations department:

Senior outfielder Shea Clements was named WAC Player of the Year and first team all-conference, while fifth-year pitcher Kate Dolinski was tabbed WAC Pitcher of the Year and garnered first team all-conference honors.

Outfielder Tanya Windle was voted WAC Freshman of the Year along to go with first team all-conference accolades, and senior first baseman Hannah Hughbanks was selected to the all-WAC first team and all-defensive team.

Meanwhile, sophomore shortstop Lauren Almeida earned second team all-WAC and all-defensive team honors, and freshman pitcher Sauren Garton was voted second team all-conference. (Link to full story here)

This is a team that was picked to finish near the bottom of the conference and now they're conference champions.

Head coach Randy Simkins also won WAC Coach of the Year after going 8-16 in the WAC last year, the Trailblazers went 19-5 this year and won the conference.

Per the press release:

Along the way, Simkins collected his 500^th-career NCAA era victory at Utah Tech (7-6 vs. California Baptist – 4/22/23), and the program's 600^th NCAA era win overall (6-5 at GCU – 4/15/23).

Simkins' Coach of the Year award is his third overall, with the previous two coming in consecutive seasons in 2014 and 2015 during the program's NCAA Division II era as members of the Pacific West Conference. Simkins' also led the program to three PacWest conference titles in four years in 2011, 2013 and 2014.

What an amazing season for Utah Tech softball. They are the first team at the University to win a conference title since they made the jump up to D-1.

Utah Tech will begin conference tournament play as the one-seed on Thursday at 2 p.m. (MT) in Phoenix, AZ.