Weber State softball: McCraw overcomes injuries to steady Wildcats in circle
WSU wins home series against Portland State
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- Weber State pitcher Cali McCraw winds up a pitch against Portland State on Saturday, March 29, 2025, in Ogden.
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- Weber State outfielder Olivia Birkinshaw hits a home run against Portland State on Saturday, March 29, 2025, in Ogden.
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- Weber State pitcher Cali McCraw, left, speaks with third baseman Abby Grundy (1) on Friday, March 28, 2025, in Ogden.
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- Weber State outfielder Olivia Birkinshaw gestures after hitting a home run on Saturday, March 29, 2025, in Ogden.
OGDEN — Cali McCraw may be starting to put Weber State softball’s pitching on her shoulders, but it’s her left knee that’s making the real difference.
“This is the first season in the past few years where I can pitch with no pain in my knee,” she said Saturday. “But mentally is where the biggest growth has been. I work with multiple people who help me get through that.”
The right-hander tossed 11 innings of one-run ball to earn two wins as Weber State took a series 2-1 from Portland State to open the Big Sky Conference schedule, concluding with a 4-0 shutout Saturday at Wildcat Softball Field.
McCraw, a junior college transfer, threw just one game in 2023 and had what was the first of three procedures on her knee. The most recent was in June following the 2024 season.
“It was a big one. A couple screws, a piece of my shin bone cut out and moved,” she said about hear lead pitching leg. “I think the stat is 120% of your body force hits every time you land so it’s been quite the recovery. Especially because I’m 6-3.”
In Friday’s series opener, McCraw spread four hits across seven innings, striking out four and allowing one run. In Saturday’s finale, she took over from Raina Navarro and threw the final four innings — zero runs on five hits, with two strikeouts. While her season ERA drops to a team-best 4.37, her Big Sky ERA is now 0.63 to open the slate.
“Cali tends to come out the most often and give us good ground balls because she’s a drop-ball pitcher,” WSU head coach Kristin Delahoussaye said. “She’s super competitive, she wants to win, she gets all fired up … she throws well, but she also brings good energy and passion to the game, so that helps us a lot.”
Saturday’s shutout displayed more of the glove work that helps Weber State compete. McCraw’s stat line only totals nine outs between groundouts, flyouts and strikeouts over four innings. The difference to get to 12 outs is that McCraw’s drop-ball style set up Taegan Smith and Sadie Kirk for a pair of smooth, 6-4-3 double plays.
“When they’re out there, and they’re on, it makes me feel better. I can just throw my stuff and get ground balls, and I know they’re going to be behind me getting the outs,” McCraw said.
Then, in the seventh, McCraw got her own. After stopping but dropping a hot, one-bounce comebacker to the circle the batter before, McCraw got a second chance at it on another comebacker from PSU’s Alapese Matautia. Fielded cleanly, McCraw spun to Smith on the bag at second and she fired one final double play to Kiaira Smith at first to end the game.
The Wildcats committed zero errors in the three-game series and have just two in the last six games.
Weber State (13-23, 2-1 Big Sky) next hosts Utah State (19-14) in a nonconference game scheduled for 3 p.m. Monday, then heads to Montana (7-27, 0-3) for a three-game conference series Friday and Saturday, April 4-5.
Northern Colorado swept Montana to start atop the conference at 3-0. Idaho State went 2-1 against Sacramento State.
WSU 4, PSU 0
With McCraw and the defense working, WSU needed just a handful of offensive plays to claim a win Saturday. Despite a force ranging anywhere from a breeze to a stiff wind coming in from center field, Olivia Birkinshaw (in the second) and Abby Grundy (in the fourth) each launched solo homers to center. Riley Whalen added a sacrifice fly in the second for a 3-0 lead.
In the fifth with runners on the corners, Kiaira Smith hit a grounder straight to the second baseman but it was sharp enough to cause a bobble and prevent a double play; Whalen scored on the fielder’s choice to second base for the final 4-0 tally.
WSU 6, PSU 1
McCraw allowed one run on four hits in a complete-game victory to start Friday for Weber State. She struck out four and walked three.
Sadie Kirk batted 1 for 2 with two walks and three RBIs. She singled home Taegan Smith and Riley Whalen in the first inning and drew a bases-loaded walk in the sixth. Abby Grundy drove in Whalen with a sacrifice fly to cap the scoring in the sixth. Kiaira Smith hit two doubles and scored one run.
Portland State broke the shutout in the fifth inning when Lorraine Alo hit a solo home run.
PSU 9, WSU 6
Portland State tallied a season-high 16 hits and had Weber State playing from behind in the second game Friday.
PSU tallied four runs on seven hits against RJ Parra in 2 1/3 innings to start. Taegan Smith hit a solo homer to tie the game 1-1 after one inning but Nichole Orozco hit a three-run homer off Parra in the third for a 4-1 lead.
Weber twice closed the deficit to one run. The first response came immediately in the latter half of the third; Sadie Kirk doubled in Riley Whalen, then scored on a Kiaira Smith single to make it 4-3.
By the fifth, the Vikings extended the lead back to 7-3 with three runs charged to Joslynn Veltien.
Kirk struck again in the fifth, doubling home Taegan Smith, then scoring with Olivia Birkinshaw on an Abby Grundy double to cut it to 7-6.
Veltien put the first two batters on with hits in the top of the sixth and gave way to Clearfield High alum Jayci Finch. Finch allowed a double and a sacrifice fly, runs charged to Veltien, for the final score.
