OREM, Utah—The Utah Valley University softball team dropped its home opener to in-state foe Utah State 5-2 on Tuesday at Wolverine Field in their lone contest of the week.
 
"I thought it was a good effort by the girls and its nice to see them battling all the way until the end like we did today," head coach Nikki Palmer said. "Overall I thought we could have had a little bit more offensive pressure, but we did a good job to come back and battle throughout the game."
 
Utah State (10-10) opened up in the second inning when Victoria Saucedo reached on an Utah Valley (4-21) error, bringing in Noelle Johnson. On the next play, April Brown tripled down the right field line, batting in Saucedo for an unearned run.
 
Following the two-run inning for the Aggies, Utah Valley responded when Brianna Gatlin singled down to center field and batted in Cera Stanley from third base.
 
The Aggies returned with three more runs in the top of the third when Alleyah Armendariz reached and Sarah Chow scored on an error from Tiani Hensley with Sarina Jamarillo on third. Noelle Johnson grounded out and batted in Jamarillo, then Hart singled up the middle to bring in Armendariz.
 
Kendall Ohman advanced to first on an error, advanced to second on another error, and a hit down the line from Gatlin drove Ohman home.
 
The Wolverines will be back in action next week when they head to BYU on March 22.