Utes’ elite pitching duo has forged unlikely friendship

There are softball teams with a No. 1 starter and a No. 2 starter, but it's becoming clear that Utah has a pair of No. 1s.

Second in the Pac-12 in ERA this season (0.99), the 11th-ranked Utes (21-5) are getting the job done with the same starters they've had for the last few seasons, juniors Katie Donovan and Miranda Viramontes. With Donovan's rising heat and Viramontes' low and off-speed pitches, Utah has a power duo in the circle that helped it sweep then-No. 10 UCLA on the road — something the program had never done before.

And though those around them say they couldn't have more different personalities, Donovan and Viramontes are also unlikely best friends.

"They're the two most different people I've ever known; it's fun to watch," coach Amy Hogue said. "To see their relationship grow is baffling to me. But they're teammates, and they know they need each other, and they're both equally important to this team."

And equally important, as it turns out, to each other.

Donovan from Salem, Ore., and Viramontes from Chino Hills, Calif., were both in the same pivotal recruiting class for the Utes, and helped the program return to the NCAA Tournament as freshmen. But after freshman year, something brought them together more than before: housing.

They lived in the same freshman dorm on opposite ends of the building. But when they were grouped together for temporary summer housing, they didn't have any buffers between them.

The highly organized, serious Donovan and the more freewheeling, fun-loving Viramontes weren't all that close, they said. But they started realizing how much they enjoyed each other's company.

"We laugh a lot," Donovan said. "We're both really different, but she really brings out the goofy side of me. It's fun to go through life with someone like that. We have a lot of long days, a lot of hard days, and we're with the team so often, sometimes you gotta laugh at those situations."

They started carpooling more in Donovan's 1996 Toyota Avalon — a ride that Viramontes calls "a total grandma car" and both refer to by its nickname, "Bertha." They went grocery shopping together, listened to music together (although Donovan is "not trusted" with playlist responsibilities, she said) and hung out more and more.

They explored each other's interests, bringing a little more color to the other.

"We are complete opposites, but I think that helps," Viramontes said. "She'll teach me something random, like something biological, or something school-related. And I'll be like, 'Yeah, there's this new dance move everybody's doing.'"

That relationship has a practical effect in Utah softball games, as they keep each other's council. Donovan's style is highly analytical: She has a mental checklist of her release point, of how she shifts her weight and other parts of her mechanics that she goes over, box by box in her mind. Viramontes describes her style thusly: "I just kind of fling it."

"There's times when she's asked me, 'How do I do this?' and I just say, 'You need to relax and throw it,'" Viramontes said. "I think if anything, we just prove that we complement each other really well."

They proved it in the series in Westwood, Calif., last weekend, when Utah outscored the Bruins 13-3 in the three-game sweep. In the last game, Viramontes threw the first four innings while Donovan closed the final three for a shutout with only four total hits.

It was arguably the most significant series sweep in Utah's regular season history, one capped by Viramontes earning Pac-12 pitcher of the week. As one of Utah's returning all-Pac-12 pitchers, Donovan has a team-best 71 strikeouts, but Viramontes' improved variety and off-speed pitches have given her a 0.86 ERA and she's 7-0 on the year.

Now, the Utes are looking to keep the Pac-12 rally going, facing No. 3 Oregon, the last unbeaten team in the country. Utah's best-friend pitching duo makes them no easy out, and that's the way they like it.

"In my school and in softball, I can be pretty serious, but it's no fun if you're like that all the time," Donovan said of Viramontes. "She brings out that other side of me. We bring it out in each other."

kgoon@sltrib.com Twitter: @kylegoon