ST. GEORGE, Utah -?? Todd Fairbourne-??s return as head coach of the Utah Valley State softball team didn-??t go exactly as planned as the Wolverines struggled, losing two games in St. George to open the season.

In the opener against Utah, the Utes jumped out early getting two runs in the top of the 1 st inning and never looking back. They put pressure on the Wolverines all afternoon, scoring in every inning before ending the game early, winning 9-0 in five innings.

Katie Welling had the lone hit for Utah Valley State, as Utah-??s Lindsie Nielsen took a no-hitter into the bottom of the fifth before surrendering the hit.

Nielsen struck out nine of the 17 batters she faced, while Jackie Wong racked up three hits and 2 RBI-??s for the Utes.

In the 2nd game against BYU, the Wolverines missed the chance to strike first when they had two runners in scoring position with only one out, but they couldn-??t get either runner home.

Utah Valley struggled defensively from that point on, committing four errors and giving up 10 unearned runs in a 21-3 loss to the Cougars.

BYU exploded for a 10 run 3rd inning in which four of the runs were unearned. The Cougars scored 12 of their runs off of home runs, including two grand slams and a three run homer.

Crystal Young went 2-2 with a double, while Chris Jimenez went 2-3 against BYU.

The Wolverines will be back in action tomorrow with a game a noon against Southern Utah and then a rematch with Utah at 2:00pm.