University of Nevada Las Vegas
Utah State
5/9/2014 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 9, 2014
LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV softball team held on for a 2-1 victory Friday night at Eller Media Stadium over the Utah State Aggies. The Rebels owned a two-run advantage after a pair of middle-inning scores, but they had to withstand a late surge by the Aggies in the seventh.
With the win, the Scarlet & Gray improved to 25-28 overall and 14-9 in the Mountain West. USU, on the other hand, dropped to 18-36 on the year and 6-17 in league play.
In the MW standings, the race for the conference's regular-season title has tightened up with one game left for four teams. The Rebels moved into a three-way tie for second with Boise State and Fresno State. BSU suffered a 1-0, eight-inning loss to San Diego State, who moved into sole possession of first place by one game with the win. FS was handed its second straight loss by Nevada, Reno. Colorado State sits half a game behind the second-place log jam after it won a game versus San Jose State. CSU and SJSU will play twice Saturday.
Today's contest was scoreless through three innings before Pauline Monreal took matters into her own hands in the fourth. Monreal laced a solo home run down the left-field line to break the deadlock. With the RBI and home run, she moved up in both categories in the program's single-season record book. She is first all-time in RBI with 59 and tied for fifth in home runs with 14.
An inning later, Samantha Juarez upped the lead to two runs with an RBI single to left. Francesca Foti led off the fifth with a single through the left side. Emilie Valadez was then subbed into the contest to pinch run for Foti, and she made her way into scoring position off a pair of sacrifice bunt by Jaexie Balilea and Garie Blando.
USU mounted a charge in the seventh after its offense had been held in check by Morgan Ettinger (9-9) through six innings of play. The Rebel hurler had only allowed three base runners in that time frame with none moving past first base.
In the final stanza, the Aggies got a pair of runners on base off a single and a fielding error. After a passed ball put both runners in scoring position, Nicole Arata hit an RBI single to center to create some suspense. With the game-tying run at third and the would-be go-ahead tally at first, Amanda Oliveto was summoned from the bullpen for the Rebels. Oliveto made quick work of her stint in the circle, as she immediately induced a game-ending groundout.
Ettinger struck out two, but was touched for one run off of three hits in her 6.2 innings of work. Oliveto faced only one batter for her third save of the season.
USU's Noelle Johnson (16-21) was tagged with the loss - her second of the series - in six frames of action. Johnson gave up two runs off of six hits. She walked two against one strikeout.
UNLV and USU conclude the three-game set Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 pm with a senior ceremony slated to begin at 12:40 pm.
NOTES: Stefany Valentino's 24-game hitting and 35-game on-base streaks came to an end Friday, as the lefty was unable to reach base safely ... In UNLV's career record book, Monreal moved into a tie for fifth place with Kendall Fearn in home runs (34) ... Oliveto moved into second place in appearances (162) and into a fourth-place tie in saves (six).
