ON DECK
After playing its first 14 games away from home, Utah Valley University softball is set for its home opener on Wednesday in a doubleheader against the University of Maine. First pitch of game one is set for 12:30 p.m. MT with the games airing on the WAC Digital Network.

The Wolverines (7-7) will also open WAC play on Friday in a three-game series at Dixie State in the Old Hammer Rivalry. That series begins with a doubleheader on Friday at 2 p.m. with the finale on Saturday at noon. Those games will air on ESPN+ from St. George.

UVU hasn't played in nearly two weeks and has seen both weather and COVID protocols wreak havoc on two weekends. After missing the entire UNLV Rebel Classic the second week of the season, the Colorado Classic (March 4-6) was trimmed from five games to just two, due to weather.

Megan Gibbs leads UVU with six home runs and ranks 13th in the country in home runs per game and is also tied for the WAC lead with a .870 slugging percentage. Rien Milliken is batting .393 while Gibbs is just behind her at .391. Mikaela Thomson leads the club with 14 RBIs.

Kalena Shepherd is third on the team with a .385 average but leads all WAC players with a .547 on base percentage, due to drawing 14 walks through 14 games. Her walks per game ranks fifth in the country.

LAST TIME OUT
In Colorado, the Wolverines played four times overall and went 2-2. They split a doubleheader at Northern Colorado prior to the start of the classic, before dropping a single game to the Bears and winning at Colorado State.

In the win at CSU, Aubree Hogan went 3-for-4 and hit her first career home run while Gibbs and Shepherd collected two hits apiece. Katie Zuniga and Brooke Carter combined to strike out 10 batters with seven coming from Carter in a relief role in 4.2 innings. She earned the win and moved to 4-2 on the season.

Zuniga was the winning pitcher a day earlier in UVU's victory at Northern Colorado. She struck out four and allowed just two runs in the complete-game win. Madison Carr and Gibbs both had two hits while Shepherd was 1-for-1 and walked three times in the game.

UP NEXT
Utah Valley will play two in-state midweek games next week with contests Tuesday at Weber State and Wednesday at Utah State. Next weekend, the Wolverines return to WAC play in a home series against defending tournament champion Seattle University on March 25-26.