Feb. 9, 2014
Sportco Kick Off Classic Tournament Page
BOX SCORES: #3/5 Washington 7, UNLV 1 | #18/16 Baylor 7, UNLV 3
LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV softball team came into the 2014 season knowing it would play five teams ranked in the preseason Top 25 polls, and two of those meetings occurred Saturday night. The Rebels dropped both of those contests - a 7-1 loss to the #3/5 Washington Huskies and a 7-3 defeat to the #18/16 Baylor Bears - on day two of the Sportco Kick Off Classic held at Eller Media Stadium.
UNLV's offense was paced by .500 batting averages off identical 3-for-5 showings at the plate by Garie Blando and Tayler Van Acker. Stefany Valentino scattered three hits, as well, in seven at-bats for a .429 hitting clip.
In the circle, Alex Petrolia (0-1) and Amanda Oliveto (0-2) were saddled with the losses in 5.0 and 7.0 innings of work, respectively. Petrolia surrendered seven runs off of 11 hits to Washington, while Oliveto went the distance against Baylor, but was touched for seven runs and 11 hits.
In game one, Washington struck for three early runs and never looked back en route to the six-run win. The Huskies scored two in the first off an RBI double by Kaitlin Inglesby and a groundout that plated a run by Kelli Suguro. They got two more runs off sacrifice flies by Hooch Fagaly in the second and fourth stanzas.
In the sixth, the Huskies got a three-run homer from Ali Aguilar to push their lead to seven.
The Rebels got on the board in the seventh off an RBI single by Blando. Alyssa Cordova led off the frame with a double to center before scoring on Blando's hit.
UW's Bryana Walker earned the win in complete-game fashion. Walker struck out 12 and allowed one run off of seven hits.
In game two, the contest was scoreless through two until Baylor got a three-run dinger from Sarah Smith in the third. An inning later, the Bears used the long ball to plate two more with back-to-back shots from Jordan Strickland and Robin Landrith.
UNLV got its first run of the affair in the bottom half of the fourth off an RBI triple by Pauline Monreal. Cordova scored on the three-base hit after initially reaching off a two-out single.
The Bears added two runs in the sixth off a two-run single from Claire Hosack to extend their lead to six at 7-1.
The Rebels were able to score twice more with Tayler Van Acker's involvement in both tallies. Van Acker reached on a double in the sixth before scoring off an error. An inning later, she knocked in Samantha Juarez with an RBI single.
BU's Heather Stearns picked up her second win of the year with 5.1 innings of work. Stearns allowed two runs (one earned) off of five hits to go along with six strikeouts. Liz Paul tossed the final 1.2 frames for the Bears, but gave up one run off of four hits.
UNLV returns to Eller Media Stadium for the finale of the Sportco Kick Off Classic Sunday with a 2:30 tilt against San Diego.
Saturday's Sportco Kick Off Classic Results
Arkansas 10, San Diego 1 (5 inns.)
San Diego 5, UC Davis 2
Washington 6, Arkansas 1
Baylor 17, UC Davis 1 (5 inns.)
Washington 7, UNLV 1
Baylor 7, UNLV 3
