April 5, 2014
Box Score
BOISE, Idaho (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV softball team suffered a tough, 8-7 defeat to the Boise State Broncos Saturday at Dona Larsen Park in Idaho's capital city. The Rebels staked themselves to a five-run lead (7-2) through 1.5 innings of play before the host Broncos scored six unanswered runs between the second and fifth innings to take the lead for good. The contest was the second straight decided by one run between the Mountain West rivals. The decisive third and final game is scheduled for Sunday at 1:00 pm MT (12:00 pm PT).
With the loss, the Scarlet & Gray dropped to 15-21 on the year and 5-3 in MW action. BSU, on the other hand, upped its overall marks to 18-17 and 3-5, respectively.
The Broncos struck first with a pair of runs off of two hits. Tara Glover began the offensive by taking first base when she was plunked by a Morgan Ettinger offering. Glover wasn't situated at first long as she came around to score the first run of the game when Jordan Kreiger laced a double to right center. Kreiger then advanced 60 feet when she tagged up on a fly out by Ashley Palmer before scoring on a single by Hailey Torrez.
UNLV answered in the second with a massive, seven-run output helped by four hits and two BSU errors. Following an out, the Rebels loaded the bases when three consecutive batters registered a hit-by-pitch (Jamie DePippo), a single (Francesca Foti) and a walk (Alyssa Cordova) against MacKenzie McGill. Emily Haslinger then stepped up and hit a blooper to shallow left field that Kreiger, BSU's shortstop, ranged for, but dropped to allow DePippo to score and advance each runner safely one base. Garie Blando then singled to center to knock in Foti with ease. Unfortunately, Cordova was thrown out at the plate on a nice connection between Glover in center and Brittany McCray at the dish.
Despite the out at the plate, the Rebels kept the pedal down and got a two-run double from Samantha Juarez, who wound up on third after advancing on a throw home. Juarez easily scored from third when left fielder Lindsey Nicholson dropped a fly ball put in play by Stefany Valentino. Moments after Pauline Monreal was issued a base on balls and Van Acker reached on a fielder's choice, DePippo stepped into the batter's box with the bases loaded. She promptly hit a two-run double to cap the team's scoring not only for the inning, but for the game.
The Broncos cut into their deficit with four runs off of four hits and a Rebel miscue. After McCray and Izzy Serrano recorded a double and a single, respectively, Nicholson made up for her error with an RBI double. McCray scored on Nicholson's hit while Serrano scored a batter later when a grounder by Glover was misplayed by Blando at short. Two batters later, Palmer hit a two-run double to put the score at 7-6 in UNLV's favor.
The home team pulled even at 7-all in the third off an RBI single by Glover. Libbie Jimenez led off with a single and worked her around the bases off a sac bunt and a throwing error by Emily Haslinger on an attempted pickoff at first base.
The teams combined for 14 runs through the first three frames of action, but scoring was at a premium from the fourth on, as only one run was recorded.
In the fifth, McCray notched a one-out single before giving way to pinch runner Kayla Clausen. A ground out to first pushed Clausen to second moments before she scored the would-be game-winning run off a single to right by Nicholson.
Rebecca Patton (16-10) picked up the win in the circle for Boise State. Patton threw 5.0 innings and held the Rebels off the scoreboard. She allowed five hits and walked one against one strikeout.
McGill was touched for seven runs (two earned) off of five hits in 1.2 innings. She gave way to Kenzie Cole, who recorded one out to close out the second stanza.
For the Rebels, Amanda Oliveto (7-12) was tagged with the loss in relief of Morgan Ettinger. Oliveto struck out seven, but surrendered two runs (one earned) off of four hits while Ettinger gave up six runs (five earned) off of six hits.
NOTES: With help from her first-inning single, Valentino extended her hitting streak to a season-best eight games ... Juarez went 3-for-4 Saturday to record her fourth three-hit game of the year and career.
