SAN DIEGO — The Utah Valley softball team dropped a pair of tilts on Saturday at the Campbell/Cartier Classic, losing 3-2 to UC Riverside before dropping the night cap 6-1 to the tournament host San Diego State.
"We're facing a lot of tough teams right now that have won or are going to win their conferences this year," said head coach Cody Thomson. "We're learning what it's going to take to get to that level. Brooke and Katie did well today. They're pitching against a lot of good lineups and are learning how to get good hitters out."
Brooke Saili picked up the tough-luck loss in game one. The senior from Spanish Fork allowed three runs — two of which were earned — in a complete game. Libbie Hawker and Megan Gibbs each went 2-for-3 with a run scored. Jaeden Barajas and Emma Haygood both picked up their first RBIs of the season.
Hawker led the game off with a single to center. Britney Moreno laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Hawker into scoring position, advancing all the way to third on the play. Barajas then brought Hawker home on a sacrifice fly to left.
The Highlanders tied it up in the bottom half of the inning on a hectic play. With runners on second and third, UC Riverside's Max Ortega lined out to right to bring in the run from third, while the runner at second got into a rundown for the final out of the inning.
Haygood put the Wolverines back on top half an inning later when her single to center brought in Gibbs. The Highlanders tied it up on an error by Thorpe at short that would have ended the third.
The two teams traded zeroes until the seventh when UC Riverside strung together three-straight hits to bring home the winning run.
In game two, SDSU jumped out in front in the first when the Aztecs' Mac Barbara doubled to left-center to bring home a run from first. The Aztecs rallied for three more runs in the third and tacked on another in the fifth to take a 5-0 lead.
Rylee Thorpe cut into the deficit in the sixth when she crushed a no-doubt solo home run to left. Barajas walked and Gibbs hit a double to left-center to continue the rally with one out, but both were stranded in scoring position. The Aztecs restored their five-run lead in the seventh, and the Wolverines were retired in order to end the game.
Utah Valley will close out the weekend with a rematch against defending WCC champion LMU on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. MT. Live stats will be available at UVUStats.com.
