RENO, Nev. – The Utah Valley University softball team found itself on the wrong end of a 4-0 non-conference contest to Nevada on Sunday afternoon in UVU's regular-season finale at Hixson Park in Reno.
 
The Wolverines trailed by just a run for the majority of the game until the Wolf Pack managed to drive home three late runs to take the regular-season and series finale by a score of 4-0.
 
Nevada improves to 22-24 with the victory and ends up taking two of three from the Wolverines on the weekend to take the non-conference series. UVU falls to 20-27 overall on the year with the setback, but will enter next week's Western Athletic Conference Tournament as the two seed after recoding its best WAC finish in program history last week by placing second in the league standings with a 10-4 record. By earning the No. 2 seed, the Wolverines have earned a first-round bye and will open play on Thursday, May 10 at 1 p.m. against either No. 3 Seattle U or No. 6 UMKC.
 
On Sunday, the Mountain West Wolf Pack struck first by driving in an unearned run in the bottom of the first inning to jump out to a 1-0 lead. Back-to-back defensive miscues by the Wolverines aided Nevada in the frame, as Sadaria McAlister came in to score on a fielding error to give the Pack the early lead.
 
Utah Valley then managed to threaten offensively in each of the next three innings by getting a pair of hits from Kaylee Bott and another from Brianna Moeller, but Nevada's Kali Sargent managed to pitch out of each jam to hold the Wolverines scoreless.
 
With the Wolf Pack still holding to the slim 1-0 advantage in the sixth, Nevada's offense finally managed to break through with a trio of runs to extend its lead to 4-0. Following a single and a sacrifice bunt, Lauren Gutierrez plated the first run of the frame with an RBI infield single to make it 2-0. After a hit batter and a wild pitch, Aaliyah Gibson then drove home two more runs with a two-run single up the middle to put the game away.
 
Nevada's Sargent then finished off her complete-game gem by retiring the Wolverines in order in the seventh to record the shutout victory. Sargent allowed just three hits on the afternoon and struck out six to improve to 6-10 on the year. Addie Jensen (10-10) was the tough-luck loser for the Wolverines after surrendering just one unearned run on three hits in 3.0 innings of action. Senior Makayla Shadle, who hails from nearby Dayton, Nevada, too pitched well for UVU on the day by pitching a pair of shutout innings of relief. Shadle gave up just one hit and no runs in 2.0 innings of action.
 
Bott led the Wolverines at the plate on the day by going 2-for-3, while Moeller added a 1-for-3 outing. Erika Hansen paced the Wolf Pack with a 2-for-4 performance and Gibson finished with a 1-for-4 performance and two runs batted in.
 
The 2018 WAC Tournament will run May 9-12 at the NM State Softball Complex in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The winner of the conference tournament will receive the WAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. To view the WAC Tournament bracket, click HERE.