Feb. 22, 2014
BOX SCORES: UNLV 11, UC Davis 4 | #14 Arizona 14, UNLV 1 (5 inns.)
CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV softball team opened up Saturday's action with an 11-4 win over the UC Davis Aggies (4-12) before it suffered a 14-1 defeat to the #14/14 Arizona Wildcats (13-1) at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Cathedral City, Calif. With the split, the Rebels moved their record to 4-8 on the year.
On the day, the Scarlet & Gray had four players notch a minimum of three hits and own a .600 or better batting average. Pauline Monreal, who concluded last week's Easton Desert Classic on a tear, has kept her offensive momentum moving in the right direction with hits in all three of UNLV's games at Big League Dreams. She led the team with an .800 average, four hits - all extra bases (two home runs and two doubles), 12 total bases, while tying for the top spot in RBI (three) and slugging percentage (2.400).
Besides Monreal's production, Samantha Juarez, Jamie DePippo and Garie Blando scattered three hits apiece. Juarez went 3-for-4 (.750) at the plate with three RBI and one run, while DePippo and Blando had identical .600 clips (3-for-5). DePippo did knock in two and scored once to Blando's two-run production.
Against UC Davis, the Rebels jumped out to a two-run lead in the second inning when Juarez laced a Leah Munden (1-4) offering to left with the bases loaded. Monreal and Cordova scored on the base knock after they had initially reached base off a double and a walk.
The Aggies mounted a rally an inning later with three runs off of three hits. After getting one on via a hit-by-pitch and another by a single, UC Davis moved the runners into scoring position off a deep fly out. Run-scoring singles by Lauryn Saunders (one RBI) and Jasmine Lee (two RBI) were to blame for the quick turnaround on the scoreboard and they also brought about a pitching change for the Rebels, as Morgan Ettinger (2-1) relieved Alex Petrolia.
UNLV answered back quickly with a six-run outburst in the fourth and outscoring UC Davis by eight runs (9-1) between the fourth and sixth stanzas.
Following a strikeout to open the fourth, the Rebels had seven straight batters reach base successfully. Emily Haslinger, Alyssa Cordova and Blando singled before Jamie DePippo hit a seeing-eye single through the left side for two runs. Munden then walked Juarez to juice the bases and end her day in the circle, as Dana Cruse come on in relief. Valentino then rudely welcomed Cruse to the game with a single through the right side that scored two more. Emilie Valadez and Tayler Van Acker picked up an RBI apiece when they followed with a single to center and a sac fly.
The Rebels added insurance runs in the fifth and sixth to extend their cushion to seven. After Andrea Reynolds took over the pitching duties for the Aggies, she got the first two batters she faced out, but then allowed three straight singles to produce a run (RBI by Juarez).
In the sixth, Monreal went yard for the first time on the day with a shot to deep left that knocked in Valadez, who had reached on a fielding error.
Ettinger picked up the win for UNLV in 4.1 innings of relief. She was touched for one run off of two hits with two walks and two strikeouts.
Munden was tagged with the loss in 3.1 innings of a start. She gave up seven runs off of six hits. She struck out one against two walks.
Against Arizona, the game was scoreless through two until the Wildcats put six on the `board in the third and eight more in the fourth. The third saw the `Cats scatter four hits with three different players being credited with at least one RBI, including Kellie Fox, who had a three-run home run.
Monreal got a run back for UNLV in the top of the fourth with a solo blast to left, but Arizona got five more hits in the bottom half for its eight tallies.
Fox and Kelsey Rodriguez had two hits apiece, while the former led the team with four RBI to the latter's three.
Arizona's Michelle Floyd went three innings to improve to 3-0 on the year after giving up two hits and striking out two. Kenzie Fowler threw the final two innings for the Wildcats, and she was touched for one run off of one hit and three walks.
Amanda Oliveto dropped to 2-5 this season in four frames of work.
UNLV concludes its stint in Cathedral City with a pair of games Sunday against Cal Poly (2:00 pm) and Cal State Northridge (4:30 pm).
