UTAH VALLEY AT 2017 WAC TOURNAMENT
Thursday-Saturday, May 11-13, 2017
Las Cruces, N.M.   |   NM State Softball Complex
Tournament Central  |  Tournament Info  |  Bracket  |  UVU Game Notes

#2 UTAH VALLEY VS. #3 SEATTLE U
Thursday, May 11, 2017  |  1:30 p.m. MT
Live Video  |  Live Stats
 

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UTAH VALLEY SET FOR WAC TOURNAMENT PLAY ON THURSDAY
OREM, Utah – The Utah Valley University softball will head to Las Cruces, New Mexico, this week for the 2017 Western Athletic Conference Tournament. The league tournament will run Thursday to Saturday, May 11-13, at New Mexico State's NM State Softball Complex.
 
UVU will open the 2017 WAC Tournament on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. MT against Seattle U. The contest will be a two-three matchup, as the Wolverines are the two seed and the Redhawks are the three seed.
 
Utah Valley (16-22) earned the No. 2 seed for the tournament after tying for third place in conference play with a 7-8 league record. With Grand Canyon being ineligible for postseason competition, the Wolverines then held the tiebreaker over Seattle U -- after taking two of three from the Redhawks (18-30, 7-8 WAC) in mid-April in Orem -- to earn the two seed. The host NM State Aggies (25-22, 11-4 WAC) will enter as the tournament's top seed after earning a share of the regular season WAC title with GCU (36-18, 11-4 WAC). UMKC (15-36, 5-10 WAC) and CSU Bakersfield (11-31, 4-11 WAC) round out the tournament, as they will enter as the respective four and five seeds.
 
UVU's 7-8 league record, finishing in a tie for third place in conference play, and clinching the two seed for the WAC Tournament all mark program highs for Utah Valley since joining the WAC prior to the 2014 season.
 
"We're excited about the opportunity that we have in front of us. It's a good situation for our program to be the two seed, but I still think the tournament can go either way for anybody," head UVU coach TJ Hubbard said. "All of the teams are very close and competitive, so every game is going to be a battle. But I like where we are at, and it is definitely a good situation for us all the way around."
 
After sweeping UMKC in its final WAC series at home on April 29-30 and defeating in-state foe Weber State on a walk-off home run from Lyndsay Steverson on May 3, UVU had its regular season come to a close with a 10-2 setback to No. 20 BYU on Monday in Provo. The Cougars scored six first-inning runs en route to earning the UCCU Crosstown Clash victory over the Wolverines.
 
Senior slugger Brittney Vansway led the UVU offense in the game by belting out her 13th home run of the season in the top of the fifth inning to extend the game. Vansway's 13th round tripper ties for the single-season school record in home runs in a season with former Wolverine sluggers Amanda Robinson and Jaylen Watson. Vansway also recently became both Utah Valley's all-time leader in runs batted in with 159 for her career as well as the single-season RBI record holder with 52 this year.
 
Vansway leads Utah Valley on the season with a .402 batting average, 13 home runs and 52 RBIs. Her 52 runs batted in are also good enough to lead the WAC, while her .402 average and her 13 homers are good enough for second. Freshman Caragh Morris is next for the Wolverines with a .367 average, eight doubles and 25 RBIs, while fellow freshman Lyndsay Steverson is second on the team in the power numbers with 11 homers and 31 RBIs. Junior right-hander Lauren Frailey fronts the Wolverine pitching staff with a 12-8 record and a 3.17 ERA. Her 12 wins and 3.17 ERA are also good enough to rank her second in the league in both categories.
 
UVU ALL-TIME AT THE WAC TOURNAMENT
This season will mark Utah Valley's fourth consecutive appearance at the WAC Softball Tournament, and the Wolverines will enter this year's tournament with a 7-4 all-time record at the event. UVU went 1-2 a year ago, 2-2 in 2015, and a perfect 4-0 en route to winning the WAC Tournament title in 2014 and earning the program's first and only bid to the NCAA Tournament that season.
 
ABOUT SEATTLE U
After going 18-30 on the year and 7-8 in league play, Seattle U finished the regular season in a tie for third place in the WAC standings with the Wolverines. After dropping two of three to CSUB in their final WAC series of the season, the Redhawks then had their regular season come to a close with a 3-1 setback to the seventh-ranked Washington Huskies on May 3. SU holds series victories on the year over GCU and UMKC and made a deep run at the 2016 WAC Tournament in which it finished with a 2-2 record at the event.
 
Paige Bouska paces Seattle with a .388 batting average. She also leads the WAC in hits (71) and triples (7). Alyson Matriotti is next with a .349 average, while Madison Cathcart leads the team in the power numbers with five home runs and 39 RBIs. Andie Larkins fronts the SU pitching staff with a 10-20 record and a 3.86 ERA.
 
Thursday's contest will mark the 31st all-time meeting between the Wolverines and the Redhawks. SU will enter play holding to a 17-13 series lead, but UVU holds a 3-1 lead over the Redhawks in WAC Tournament play including an unblemished 2-0 mark in Las Cruces.  
 
ON DECK FOR UVU
The winner of Thursday's opener will advance to the tournament's semifinal round that will be played on Friday at 1:30 p.m., while the loser will head to an elimination game on Thursday evening at 6:30 p.m. The 2017 WAC Tournament champion will then be crowned on Saturday, as the championship game is set for that afternoon at 1 p.m.