ST. GEORGE, Utah -?? Day two for the Utah Valley Softball team brought the same results, but a different feeling for head coach Todd Fairbourne. After struggling to compete on Friday against Utah and BYU, the Wolverines gave themselves chances to win in both games Saturday in St. George.

In the first game against Southern Utah, the Wolverines fell behind 4-0 in the first inning after two T-Bird home runs. Utah Valley didn't stay down for long though. In the top of the 2nd, Katie Welling and Ericka Jones hit back to back doubles and Rachel Hartgrove hit a big two-out, two-run single to bring the Wolverines within one.

Southern Utah scored a run in the third on Amy Sauer's second home run of the day, then added three more in the fourth to take an 8-3 lead.

In the fifth, Crystal Young hit the first home run of the season for Utah Valley, but the T-Birds answered that run back in the bottom of the inning.

From there, the Wolverines had every chance to roll over, but competed and nearly clawed all the way back. After two runs in the sixth to cut the lead to 9-6, Chris Jimenez hit a one out single and advanced to third on and error by the left fielder. After scoring on a wild pitch, Young hit an infield single bringing Amanda Kendzior to the plate as the tying run.

Utah Valley couldn't push across any more runs as Kendzior hit into a fielder's choice and Welling struck out to end the game and the T-Birds won 9-7.

The 2nd game against Utah was scoreless until Ivette Hernandez hit a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth to give the Utes a 1-0 lead.

In the top of the fifth, Welling had an RBI single to tie the game then Kendzior brought her home with a line drive home run to left center, and the Wolverines had a 3-1 lead.

From there it was all Utah though, as they tied it in the bottom of the inning on a Diana Phillips home run, and then exploded for a seven run sixth to put the game away as the Utes won 10-3.

Hartgrove, Welling and Kendzior all had two hits for the Wolverines, while Chelsey Mikaulauski started her first game in the circle, striking out four Utes in 5+ innings of work.

Utah Valley sits at 0-4 on the season and will travel to Las Cruces, New Mexico for a tournament next weekend. They will play six games against some stiff competition, including Kansas and Purdue. Their first home game will be February 19th, as they host Northwest Nazarene.