Utah Valley (10-16, 4-2 WAC) heads to Abilene, Texas for a first-ever road matchup against the Abilene Christian Wildcats (11-18, 3-5 WAC) this Friday and Saturday.
First pitch of Friday's doubleheader is slated for 1 p.m. MT, with Saturday's series finale scheduled for 11 a.m. MT. All three games will be broadcast live on WAC International.
LAST TIME OUT
The Wolverines took one out of three on the road at GCU last weekend. Utah Valley dropped the first two games 9-2 and 7-4 respectively before bouncing back with an 8-2 victory on Saturday.
Rachael Brown had a strong weekend at the plate, going 3-for-5 with three home runs and seven RBIs. Brown became the third Wolverine with a multi-home run game this season when she blasted two in Saturday's win, and enters the week leading the WAC in slugging percentage at .826.
Halle Morris had another strong weekend in the circle and at the plate. Morris earned the win in Saturday's finale, going four innings and allowing just one ER. Morris also reached base safely in 7 of her 10 plate appearances over the weekend, officially going 2-for-5 with two walks, three HBPs, three RBIs, and two runs scored. Morris currently leads the team and is third in the WAC in on-base percentage at .474.
Amber Rodriguez has continued to put up quality at-bats at the top of the lineup. Rodriguez is currently on a six-game hitting streak, and has also reached base safely in 12-straight games. Rodriguez is the second UVU freshman to have a reached-base streak of 10 games or more, joining Peyton Hall, who had her 13-game streak snapped on Friday after she had to leave early in the game due to injury.
SERIES HISTORY vs ABILENE CHRISTIAN
The Wolverines and Wildcats have met just four times on the softball diamond — once at the 2022 WAC Tournament and in a three-game series last season in Orem. Utah Valley has won all four meetings.
The short series has already seen plenty of late-inning dramatics. In the first meeting in 2022, Utah Valley rallied for six runs in the seventh to pull away and win what had been a pitchers duel for the first six innings. The Wolverines then won the first meeting last season in walk-off fashion, courtesy of an RBI double by Britney Moreno that scored Taylor Wooten.
AROUND THE WAC
After two and a half weeks of WAC play, Utah Valley sits in a tie for second place with Utah Tech at 4-2. GCU is alone in first at 6-2 after taking two out of three against the Wolverines and sweeping a midweek doubleheader against CBU. Abilene Christian sits in a tie for seventh with Tarleton State at 3-5.
IN RARE COMPANY
On Saturday, UVU picked up just its second-ever win at GCU, both of which have come under Cody Thomson. Since Thomson took over as HC in 2022, GCU has only lost 5 times at home to WAC opponents — twice to UVU, twice to Utah Tech, and once to Tarleton.
BOMBS AWAY
On Saturday against GCU, Rachael Brown became the third Wolverine this season to hit two home runs in a game, joining Peyton Hall and Megan Gibbs. Brown's two-homer game is the 40th all-time in UVU's D-I history. The team single-season record for multi-home run games is 5, which occurred in 2012, 2014, and 2017.
THIS IS HOW YOU THANK ME?
Graduate RHP Halle Morris ranks first in the WAC and 12th nationally in fewest hit-by-pitches allowed with 2. As a hitter, Morris ranks tied for third in the WAC for most times being hit by a pitch with 7. The UVU single-season record for most times hit by a pitch is 12.
UP NEXT
Utah Valley returns home for a six-game homestand, starting with a midweek doubleheader against the Seattle U Redhawks on Tuesday, April 2. First pitch has been moved up to 1 p.m. MT to account for weather. Both games will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
