May 12, 2007
Final Stats
SALT LAKE CITY - The UNLV softball team (37-27 overall, 12-8 Mountain West Conference) defeated the Utah Utes (25-26-1, 5-14) in Salt Lake City, Utah Sunday. The Rebels took advantage of poor defense by the home squad for their 8-3 win. The win gives UNLV a regular season sweep of the Utes in league play.
In the first inning, the Utes jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a double by Staci Hemingway. Diana Phillips led off the frame with a single to the hole at short and came around from first on Hemingway's shot to center off of Christie Robinson.
UNLV evened the score at 1-1 with help from a wild pitch thrown by Karina Cannon. Rosa Ordaz scored on the wild pitch after leading off the inning with a single through the left side. She took second on a sacrifice bunt by Bri Bernardi and a ground out to second by Brittany Meade.
In the fourth, Kendall Fearn led off with a single to right and was pinch-run for by Stacey Burgos. Burgos took second on a ground out to third and tried scoring the go-ahead run on a single by Meade to center, but was thrown out at home by Phillips.
Utah made the most of its opportunity in the fourth by scoring one run on three hits. Kara Foster got the two-out offensive going with a double to center and came around to score on a single by Kristie Keller. Brittany Bolinger was unable to throw Foster out at home from left field, but was successful on the next play to get Keller attempting to score on Tori Medina's single.
The Rebels were given a gift of four runs in the fifth inning coming off of three Utah errors. Caitlyn Paus and Jaci Hull reached on errors by the third baseman and second baseman, respectively. So with runners on the corners, Alyssia De La Torre delivered a two-run double down the right field line. Bolinger followed with a double to right center to plate De La Torre. Bolinger advanced to third on a fly out by Fearn to center and then scored when Medina booted a grounder put in play by Ordaz.
The Utes got one run back in the fifth off of Rebel errors and two singles. Heather Slettvet entered the game in relief of Robinson and allowed the unearned run. Hailey Davenport hit a two-out single to left to score Meghan Crouse from second. With runners in scoring position, Paus made a great diving play on a grounder by Andrea Hoffman.
UNLV pushed its lead to 6-3 off of a double by Hull to score Paus from second. Paus reached on an error by Foster. With Brittany Freight at bat, Paus stole second and then took third on her ground out. Hull then delivered a shot down the right field line to score Paus.
Fearn pushed UNLV's lead to 8-3 with a two-run home run to left field off of Meghan Dyer in th seventh. Dyer entered in relief of Cannon and immediately surrendered a double to Brittany Bolinger to center. Fearn followed with her blast to left.
Robinson improved her record to 15-5 with her 4.0 innings of work. She allowed only two runs on seven hits, while fanning one.
Slettvet picked up her fourth save of the season in 3.0 innings of relief. She allowed one run on five hits.
Cannon (7-11) suffered the loss in 6.0 innings of a start. She surrendered six runs, only one of which was earned. UNLV bats scattered nine hits off of the starter.
Dyer tossed one inning of relief and gave up two runs on three hits.
The win concludes UNLV's regular season and now the Rebels must wait until Sunday afternoon to learn their postseason fate. ESPNews will air the NCAA Tournament Selection Show between 12:00 pm PT (noon) and 1:00 pm.
