PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico – Utah Valley University did all of its damage early in a season-opening 9-1 victory over George Washington on Thursday at the Puerto Vallarta Challenge. New head coach
Stacy May-Johnson picked her first career win in the 2020 opener at Nancy Almaraz Stadium.
The Wolverines (1-0) scored three in the first and six more in the second, and
Devyn Cretz went the distance in the five-inning, run-rule victory.
"That was awesome. The girls came out ready from the first inning and crushed the ball. I know we didn't have a lot to of runs to show for it later on, but we hit ball hard the whole game," said May-Johnson. "They (George Washington) had a couple of early mistakes that helped us, but we were ready and able to capitalize on those."
Lyndsay Steverson reached base four times, going 1-for-1 with two RBIs and three walks. Jaedan Barajas, in her first collegiate game, had an RBI double in the first and finished 2-for-3 with two batted in.
Basia Query and
Abby Doughty both added two hits for the Wolverines with
Siena Sandoval and
Rien Milliken both driving home two runs.
Cretz limited the Colonials (0-2) to just four scattered hits and struck out four, with the only run coming in unearned. George Washington threatened to extend the game getting two on in the fifth, but Cretz struck out Alessandra Ponce looking to end it.
Newcomer
Jade Miller led off the game with a double and was still second with two down before Steverson doubled her home with a shot into the corner in left. The Wolverines rallied for two more runs, getting an RBI double from Barajas, and Sandoval placed a single right in front of the right-fielder to bring home Barajas.
George Washington got one back in the bottom of the inning, but Cretz limited the damage after the bases were full with nobody out. She got a strikeout, an RBI groundout and ended the inning with another strikeout and UVU led 3-1 after one.
In the second, Utah Valley sent 11 hitters to the plate and took advantage of five walks in the inning, including two that forced in runs. Steverson walked to force in the first run, Barajas delivered her second RBI hit in a row and Sandoval walked to bring home another run. Milliken came through with a pinch-hit, two-run single and Sandoval later scored on a wild pitch to give the Wolverines a 9-1 lead.
The Colonials had two on with one out in the bottom of the second, when a Nielson fielder a grounder, tagged the runner going to third and threw to first to complete the inning-ending double play.
The Wolverines will return to the diamond later Thursday night against Pac 12 Oregon at 8:30 p.m. CT/7:30 p.m. MT. The game can be seen live on FloSoftball.com
