FORT COLLINS, Colo. - The Omaha softball team split two games to open the weather-shortened Colorado State Classic on Saturday at Ram Field. Omaha got off to a slow start in an 8-2 loss to Southern Utah in the first game of the tournament but responded with an 8-0 (6 inn.) win over Dayton.

The Mavs moved to 13-8 overall. UNO caps play on Sunday at 2 p.m. (CT) against host Colorado State.

Southern Utah 8, Omaha 2
Southern Utah jumped on the Mavs with three runs in the first inning and took an 8-0 lead after four innings. Campbell Ditto's RBI single in the bottom of the fifth scored Allie Mathewson and kept the game from ending by run rule. Mathewson added a solo home run in the seventh for a 2-for-4 game with both runs scored.

Lizzie Noble (1-2) started and took the loss after 0.1 innings with three hits, two walks and three earned runs. Cheyenne Baxter pitched 3.1 innings of relief with four earned runs on six hits, one walk and two strikeouts. Kat Barrow pitched the final 3.1 innings effectively with no runs on four hits and no walks with one strikeout. 

The Thunderbirds (4-12) pounded out 13 hits, only one of which was an extra-base hit, a triple by Park to lead off the game.

Omaha 8, Dayton 0 (6 inn.)
Dana Elsasser threw a one-hit shutout, and the Mavs got off to a much better start in game two of the day, taking a 3-0 lead on Dayton (4-11) in the first inning. Campbell Ditto set the tone with a solo homer, and Amber Lutmer walked and later scored on a wild pitch. Sydney Hames singled and came home to make it 3-0 on an RBI double by Lizzie Noble.

In the bottom of the third, Lutmer tied Leslie Svoboda's career home runs school record with the 44th of her career to make it 4-0. Hames then singled for the second time, and Noble doubled her home again for a 5-0 lead. Allie Mathewson's RBI single later in the inning made it 6-0.

Noble posted her third hit and third RBI of the game in the bottom of the fourth to score Lutmer for a 7-0 lead after four. Lutmer singled in the sixth and scored her fourth run of the game after an error by the shortstop on Tonya Peterson's grounder, ending the game by run rule.

Elsasser (10-3) pitched 4.1 innings before allowing her first and only hit of the game in the top of the fifth. She struck out seven and walked two in the one-hit shutout.

Noble was 3-for-4 with three RBI and a run, while Hames went 3-for-4 and scored twice. Lutmer was 2-for-3 with four runs and one RBI, and Ditto and Mathewson each had one hit and RBI.