OREM, Utah — The Cody Thomson era at Utah Valley University begins this weekend at the Lynn Russell Miller Classic, hosted by UC Riverside. The Wolverines are slated to play five games, with two coming on Opening Day against Portland State and the host Highlanders. On Saturday, UVU will take on Pacific before finishing off the weekend with rematches against both Portland State and Pacific on Sunday.
Thomson took over the reigns of the program last July and is the sixth head coach in the program's NCAA Division I era. Thomson replaced Stacy May-Johnson, who had been at the helm for the two prior seasons and left to become the head coach at Fresno State.
"Opening Day is always something we look forward to and this one even more so," Thomson said. "There's a lot of excitement around the team, they've been working really hard and we feel this team can really hit the ball. There's a lot of work to be done but a lot we can accomplish too."
THE 2022 ROSTER
The 2022 Wolverines return 16 letterwinners including five starters from last season's team that went 24-28. Among the returners are first-team All-WAC selection Linnah Rebolledo, second-team pick Rien Milliken, honorable mention selection Kyla Hardy, and senior Madison Carr. UVU will have to replace departed seniors Devyn Cretz and Basia Query. Query, the program's career hits leader, had been a staple behind the plate for the last five seasons and the two made up the starting battery for the majority of the past three campaigns.
Utah Valley landed a trio of experienced and accomplished transfers in Kalena Shepherd (Southern Utah), Mikaela Thomson (Dixie State), and Rylee Thorpe (Salt Lake CC). Shepherd led all of the Big Sky Conference with a .433 batting average, hit 10 home runs and drove in 33 while Thorpe hit .448 with 28 home runs and 92 RBIs to earn NJCAA All-American honors. Thomson, who graduated from Dixie State and was second team All-WAC in 2021 after batting .331 with 12 home runs, opted to use her final season of eliglibility playing for her dad in Orem. In the circle, Cretz' 154-plus innings will be missed, but the Wolverines return a pair of pitchers who saw significiant action last season in Brooke Carter and Katie Zuniga.
UP NEXT
The Wolverines are in Las Vegas next week for the UNLV Desert Classic where they'll face in-state foe Weber State, and both Kansas City and host UNLV two times each.
THE SCHEDULE
The 2022 schedule is highlighted by 15 in-state games, including Thomson's return to the University of Utah, where he spent the last 12 seasons, on March 29 in Salt Lake City. The Wolverines are slated to play 55 games prior to the WAC Tournament: 24 true road games, 17 at home, and 14 neutral site contests. The home opener is March 16, a doubleheader against Maine.
The 2022 WAC Tournament will be hosted by Sam Houston with the four postseason eligible teams from each of the WAC's new divisions competing for the league's automatic berth.
