OREM, Utah — Angelique Mann had a five-hit day at the plate and Amber Rodriguez had a pair of two-hit games as the Utah Valley Wolverines dropped their first two games of the home season to the Grand Canyon Lopes, 16-2 and 9-5.
The long ball spelled trouble for the Wolverine pitching staff from the very first inning, as the Lopes sent seven homers over the fence to sweep the doubleheader.
GAME ONE
GCU scored in all five innings of game one, with the bulk of the damage coming in the third and fifth innings when the Lopes scored six and five respectively.
After Jada Cooper hit a two-run homer in the top of the first, Utah Valley answered back with a run of their own via a bloop double down the left field line by Emma Haygood. The Lopes pushed across two more in the second, but Rodriguez turned on the jets for an RBI triple in the bottom half to make it 4-2 after two.
GCU rattled off 12 unanswered runs over the last three frames to take the opener.
GAME TWO
Avery Sapp held the Lopes hitless through the first two frames, but was tagged for five runs over the next three-plus innings to make it 5-0 GCU before she made way for Cam Davis.
Davis did her part to keep the Lopes off the board with four strong innings of relief, but a pair of mistakes to Cooper and Tinley Lucas resulted in a solo homer in the fifth and a three-run homer in the seventh respectively.
Utah Valley battled back to make it a three-run game in the bottom of the sixth with some station-to-station softball. Four straight singles and a walk by Brooklyn Ricci plated the first two runs to make it 6-2. Bailey Marvin then hit a sharp grounder to third that resulted in an unconventional 5-2-3 double play. Lopes third baseman Lovey Kepa'a touched third, threw home trying to get a force that was no longer in play, then Lucas fired over to first to get Marvin, but allowing Mann to score from third.
The Lopes put the game on ice with a three-run homer by Lucas to make it 9-3. The Wolverines rallied for two in the seventh with a sac fly by Haygood and RBI single by Mann, but it was ultimately too little too late.
The Wolverines and Lopes will reconvene for the series finale tomorrow at noon MDT. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+, with live stats available at UVUStats.com.
