After closing out the home season on Tuesday, the Utah Valley Wolverines will now hit the road for their final seven games of the regular season, beginning this weekend with a four-game road trip in Seattle. The Wolverines will face WAC foe Seattle U in a three-game series on Friday and Saturday before closing out the weekend with a tilt against the No. 10 Washington Huskies.
Friday will feature a doubleheader beginning at 4 p.m. MDT, with the series finale on Saturday slated for 2 p.m. MDT. All three games versus the Redhawks will be broadcast live on ESPN+. Utah Valley will wrap up the weekend with an early 11 a.m. MDT game on Sunday, and that game will be shown on the PAC-12 Networks.
LAST TIME OUT
The Wolverines will look to build off the momentum from last weekend's series sweep of Southern Utah and continue to climb up the WAC standings. Utah Valley jumped into a tie for third with Stephen F. Austin — one of three WAC teams the Wolverines won't play in the regular season this year (UT Arlington and Tarleton).
Against the Thunderbirds, Utah Valley hit eight home runs as a team, including three from Megan Gibbs and two from Kalena Shepherd. The Wolverines' eight home runs is the most in a WAC series since the team joined the conference in 2014. The last time UVU hit eight home runs in a series was in 2021, also against SUU. Gibbs' three home runs along with her eight RBIs earned her WAC Hitter of the Week honors, the first weekly award for any Wolverine this season. Gibbs now sits at 10 home runs on the season, just four away from breaking the all-time UVU single season home run record of 13, held jointly by Jaylen Watson (2015), Amanda Robinson (2012), and Brittney Vansway (2017).
ABOUT THE REDHAWKS (18-30 ALL-TIME)
The Redhawks enter the week at 27-17, but just 8-10 in WAC play. Seattle U has gone 0-6 against the top two teams in the league, Utah Tech and GCU. The Redhawks rank second in team batting average and scoring, as well as third in team ERA. Jocelynn de la Cruz and Tai Wilson are t-second and fourth respectively in the WAC in hits this season. Seattle U took the season series 4-2 last season, taking two games out of three in both series.
ABOUT THE HUSKIES (0-6 ALL-TIME)
UW comes into the weekend ranked 10th in the nation, and have just three losses outside of PAC-12 play. The Huskies gave defending champions Oklahoma one of its toughest tests of the season, ultimately falling 5-4 early in the season. The Huskies are one of the most patient teams in the nation, ranking 18th in walks with 168 and 22nd in team on-base percentage at .397. With an odd number of softball teams in the PAC-12, UW is on a "bye week" this week, and will resume conference play next weekend at Stanford.
UP NEXT
Following this weekend's road swing in the Pacific Northwest, Utah Valley will close out the regular season at league-leaders Utah Tech next weekend on May 5 and 6. The Wolverines will then prepare for the WAC Tournament on May 10-13 in Phoenix, Ariz. on the campus of GCU.
