Feb. 9, 2006

Final Stats

LAS VEGAS - The UNLV softball team (2-0) ushered in the 2006 season with two wins in its home opening games Thursday night over Southern Utah (0-2) at Eller Media Stadium. The Rebels won game one handily by a 6-3 margin, but in game two a three-run rally was needed to win 7-6. The games marked the start of the season and the Alexis Resort Kick-Off Classic which run through Sunday, Feb. 12.

In game one, Southern Utah jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first with a sacrifice fly off the bat of Jentry Johnson, which brought home Tiffany Burt. The Rebels countered with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning with help from an error by SUU. With Brittany Bolinger and Jaci Hull on second and first with help from back-to-back walks, a wild pitch uncorked by Corie Jensen (0-1) brought both runners home. Bolinger scored easily from second, but Hull came home when the throw from the catcher to Jensen went down into right field foul territory.

UNLV put two more on the board in the third with a lead off double from Marissa Nichols to center. Bolinger pushed Nichols to third with a sacrifice bunt. Hull came up and promptly deposited the ball over the right field fence on a line drive for her first home run of her career and season.

Southern Utah answered with two runs of its own in the fourth after two outs had already been recorded in the inning. McKell Ashton singled to center and took second on a walk to Kayleen Carli. A throwing error by Maggie Livreri to second base brought Ashton home. A single to center by Burt plated Carli.

The Rebels pushed the score to its final three-run margin with two runs in the sixth. Kendall Fearn took first following a throwing error by SUU's shortstop. Shannon Crisp (1-0) helped herself out with a double to center to score Fearn and advanced to third on the throw to home. Britney Hillyer entered the game to pinch run for Crisp and scored on a sacrifice fly to left by Brittany Freight.

Crisp went the distance tossing all six innings. She gave up three hits, while striking out six and walking four.

Game two was a tight affair in which UNLV's offense came up big when it was needed and the relief pitching was even bigger as it shutdown SUU's bats in the final 3.1 innings.

Playing as the visitor, UNLV put three runs up on the scoreboard with help from four singles in the first. Nichols, Bolinger, Livreri and Rosa Ordaz recorded hits in the inning with Livreri getting two RBI and scoring the third run herself. Livreri went to second on the throw home in an attempt to get Bolinger at the plate. She came on home after Amy Sauer (0-1) overthrew her second baseman and watched as the ball rolled to the right field fence.

SUU cut the lead to two with a run in its half of the first. Burt singled for the Thunderbirds, stole second and scored on a single up the middle by Johnson.

The teams traded runs in the third, as Bolinger scored following Hull's steal of second. Both had singled to reach base. After Livreri walked to put runners at second and first, a pickoff attempt of Hull took the shortstop out of the game. The SUU second baseman landed on Hull's right side and forced her to leave the game.

With Hull out, Caitlyn Paus moved from second to short, Livreri took off her catcher's gear and played second and Hillyer went behind the plate. SUU got a double and a single to score its run.

SUU took a short lived lead in the bottom of the fourth with four runs off of Crisp. All four runs came after two outs were recorded. A single opened the inning, but two quick outs followed. Crisp then walked three-straight to walk in a run and then Erin Neiderhauser cleared the bases with a double to left. Christi Robinson (1-0) came in to relieve Crisp and picked up the final out of the inning.

Bolinger's triple to left got the Rebels' offense on the right track to overcome the two-run deficit in the fifth. Hillyer reached on a fielder's choice and came around to score with Bolinger off of a double by Livreri. SUU pulled Sauer from the circle and replaced her with Ashley Christiansen (0-1) who gave up the eventual winning run in the inning. Paus walked with two outs and took second on a single by Kendell Fearn. Sandy Nakamura pinch hit for Robinson and reached on a fielder's choice. An errant throw to second brought Paus home.

Robinson took her first career win, although she only pitched long enough to record the final out in the fourth. Kelly Griego came in and tossed three innings of relief to notch the first save of her career. Griego allowed two hits, but struck out four, while walking none. She did get help from Nichols for the first out of the seventh as the centerfielder went all out and stole a home run from Johnson. Nichols ran straight back to the fence and just as the ball was flying over the fence, she reached up and caught the ball while crashing into the fence.

The Rebels return to action on Friday night in a 3:45pm tilt against Illinois-Chicago. There are six games at Eller Media Stadium on Friday, with game one's first pitch scheduled for 9am (Kentucky vs. Washington).