LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Utah Valley University dropped the opening game of the National Softball Invitational Championship to in-state foe Weber State, 14-7, on Wednesday afternoon. The five-team regional is being hosted by UNLV at Eller Media Stadium. Utah Valley will now play on Thursday at noon PT/1 p.m. MT in an elimination game against either Nevada or UC Riverside.
 
Five errors proved costly for the Wolverines (21-30) with eight of the Wildcats' (28-24) runs coming in unearned. 

With UVU trailing 1-0 in the third, Linnah Rebolledo tied it with her first career home run to lead off the inning. Utah Valley took a 2-1 lead later in the frame with a Lyndsay Steverson two-out double that drove in Peyton Angulo.
 
After the Wildcats regained the lead with two runs in the bottom of the third, Utah Valley responded with a five-run fourth. Kaylee Bott singled and Madison Sisco doubled to put runners at second and third with nobody out. Following a groundout, Rebolledo drove in her second run of the day with a sacrifice fly, scoring Bott and trying the game at 3-3.
 
The Wolverines added four more two-out runs on an RBI single from Brianna Moeller, a run-scoring error and two more when Basia Query singled home Angulo and Skylar Cook. That gave UVU a 7-3 lead at the time.
 
Again, Weber State matched Utah Valley's output with five runs in the fourth to take an 8-7 lead. The Wildcats took the lead on a chopper to second off the bat of Rae Gall that scored two runs to cap the run scoring in the inning.
 
Two more runs in the fifth added to Weber State's lead, making it 10-7. An error hurt the Wolverines with both runs coming in unearned.
 
Moeller, Bott and Sisco each had two-hit days with Rebolledo and Query driving in two runs apiece. Cook added to her school record stolen base total with two more, making her a perfect 27-for-27 on the season. Ashlyn Visser went 4-for-5 with two RBIs for Weber State while Gall had three hits and three batted in.