April 16, 2009

Final Stats

SALT LAKE CITY - The UNLV Rebels (25-15 overall, 2-4 Mountain West) dropped a heartbreaker to the Utah Utes (17-23, 1-4) on a cold and windy day at the Salt Lake Community College Softball Field Thursday afternoon. The Rebels held a 7-4 lead through 4.5 innings of play, but watched as the Utes stormed back with five unanswered runs to claim the game by a 9-7 score. Kara Foster capped off Utah's come-from-behind win with a two-run blast down the right-field line that was squeeked inside the foul pole.

The game was played on SLCC's campus due to poor field conditions at the Ute Softball Field. This was the second straight year that the UNLV-Utah games had to be moved to a neutral location. Last year's doubleheader was played at Utah Valley University's field.

With the score knotted at 7-7 and with one out, Hannah Clements got Utah's seventh inning going. Clements nailed a single to right to bring Foster to the dish for her late-inning heroics. Foster took Jessica O'Connor's (9-5) offering over the fence to end the game.

The Utes got on the board early with a solo shot in the bottom of the first with a two-out, solo shot down the left-field line by Angie Boardman.

UNLV answered quickly in the top of the second with three runs of its own. Utah's Ashley Smuda recorded the first out of the inning, but subsequently walked Ashli Holland and Brittany Bolinger to put two on the base paths. Laura Briones stepped up and cranked a two-run, opposite-field blast to left to give UNLV a 3-2 lead.

Utah equaled UNLV's output for the frame with three scores of its own. Traci Odegard surrendered a double to Kara Foster before loading the bases with back-to-back hit batters. Brooke Olson brought home the first score with an infield single that brought Foster home. Staci Hemingway then hit a double to deep right that scored two to put Utah up 4-3.

Marissa Nichols and Jaci Hull gave the Rebels the lead for the second time with solo homers in the third. Nichols went left, while Hull went right. The homers ended Ashley Smuda's day in the circle and summoned Joni Cook (2-8) from the bullpen.

Holland added two runs in the fifth, off of Cook, with a two-run single that propelled the Rebel lead to 7-4. Holland stepped up with runners in scoring position and dropped single down the line in left. Alyssia De La Torre and Hull scored on the hit after they reached via double and single, respectively.

Utah pulled even with three tallies between the fifth and sixth innings, two of the three went in the books as unearned. Brooke Olson reached on a fifth-inning fielding error by Elena Fata at third and eventually scored on a single from Whitney Holm. Consecutive pinch-hit singles in the sixth helped Utah pull even at 7-7. Olson delivered an RBI-single to bring Utah within one at 7-6 and came around to score on a single to left by Hemingway. Olson managed to score when Nichols misplayed the ball in left.

O'Connor suffered the loss for UNLV in 4.1 frames of relief. She was touched for five runs, three earned, on nine hits. She struck out four and walked none.

Cook earned the victory in 4.2 innings. She gave up two runs on four hits, while striking out five and walking one.

The Rebels return to action on Friday night (6:00 pm PT), when they play at Miller Field against the BYU Cougars.