Utah Valley returns home for the final three games of the regular season to take on in-state rival Southern Utah for Senior Weekend at Wolverine Softball Field.
The Wolverines and Thunderbirds will play a doubleheader on Friday beginning at 3 p.m. MT, then wrap up the series on Saturday at 1 p.m. MT. All three games will be streamed live on ESPN+.
Utah Valley will be honoring its three graduating seniors on Saturday — Megan Gibbs, Victoria Vasquez, and Rachael Brown — with a postgame ceremony that will also be streamed live on ESPN+.
The table is set for a chaotic final weekend of WAC softball, as seeds two through eight remain undecided. Grand Canyon secured the regular season title last weekend with a sweep of Utah Tech, who was in turn eliminated from postseason contention.
SEEDING SCENARIOS
With a sweep of Southern Utah and a little help around the WAC, the Wolverines could jump as high as the No. 3 seed in next week's WAC Tournament. To earn the three seed, the Wolverines need the following to happen:
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Tarleton State sweeps California Baptist (series in Stephenville, TX)
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Grand Canyon sweeps Abilene Christian (series in Abilene, TX)
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Both teams win at least one game in the Seattle U-UT Arlington series (series in Arlington, TX). One team would be at 11-13 and the other at 10-14.
To get the four seed, Utah Valley needs the following to happen:
Both scenarios are contingent on Utah Valley sweeping SUU. Utah Valley cannot get a top four spot if it doesn't sweep SUU, as there would be four teams ahead of them with at least 11 wins. The Wolverines would then be locked into a single-elimination spot, needing to win a play-in game to advance to the double-elimination portion of the bracket.
LAST TIME OUT
Utah Valley went on the road and swept the Seattle U Redhawks, earning the team its first three-game road sweep since 2021, and the first in conference play since 2018. The Wolverines swept Friday's doubleheader, 2-1 and 4-2 in a pair of pitcher's duels, then pulled away for an 11-6 win in Saturday's finale.
Britney Moreno led the line at the plate, going 6-for-12 with a triple, a double, three RBIs, and three runs scored. In Friday's doubleheader, she drove in or scored five of the six runs, including a game-tying double in game one and a go-ahead two-run triple in game two.
The Wolverine pitching staff continued to build off its recent success, holding one of the top offenses in the WAC in Seattle U to four extra-base hits and seven ER across three games.
Excluding the March 29 18-3 defeat against UTA, over the last 14 games, Utah Valley's pitching staff has a 3.41 team ERA, which would rank 4th in the WAC behind only GCU, Tarleton, and Seattle U over the full season.
Payge Armendariz earned her first two victories of the season with a pair of strong relief appearances. Armendariz went 5.1 IP in game two, allowing 1 ER on 3 hits with 3 strikeouts. In game three, Armendariz allowed 2 ER on 1 hit in 4 IP.
Avery Sapp tossed one of her best performances of the season in game one against Seattle U, striking out five and allowing one unearned run in a complete game victory.
Angelique Mann picked up four RBIs in the series finale, with a bases-clearing three-run single to center and a bases-loaded HBP. Emma Haygood extended her hitting streak to five games while also hitting her 4th homer of the season in game two of the series.
TAKING ADVANTAGE OF EXTRA OPPORTUNITIES
In Saturday's series finale at Seattle U, Utah Valley worked a total of eight walks and took three HBP's, in addition to five Redhawk errors, the most by any opponent this season. With these free passes and extra chances, the Wolverines were able to score all 11 runs with two outs, only three of which were earned. Overall, 14 of the 17 runs in the series were scored with two outs.
SERIES HISTORY VS SOUTHERN UTAH
Since the T-Birds joined the WAC prior to the 2023 season, Utah Valley holds a 5-1 record against their in-state rivals to the south, and a 21-15-1 record overall. The Wolverines were one strike away from making it a perfect 6-0 when SUU hit a two-out, two-run single to take game one of last year's series, 7-6. Utah Valley won the next two games, 4-1 and 4-0 respectively.
Sapp pitched two of the best games of her collegiate career on back-to-back days at SUU last season, coming two outs away from a CG shutout in game two before finishing the job in game three, earning WAC pitcher of the week honors.
SCOUTING THE THUNDERBIRDS
SUU is led by sophomore infielder Arianna Ramirez, who is the reigning WAC hitter of the week. Ramirez hit three home runs and drove in 10 in a high-scoring series win against UT Arlington. The T-Birds scored 32 runs — including 20 in a nine-inning barnburner in game two — to take two out of three from the Mavericks.
UP NEXT
Utah Valley will make its second trip of the year to Riverside, Calif., for the UCU WAC Softball Tournament, set to begin on May 7 on the campus of California Baptist. More information about start times and opponents will be announced following the conclusion of Saturday's games.
