TUCSON, Ariz. — Emma Haygood hit two home runs and Amber Rodriguez and Peyton Hall each drove in four on the day to lead Utah Valley to an 11-2 victory over the Drake Bulldogs in six innings and a 7-3 triumph over the Creighton Bluejays.
Haygood's two-homer game was the 42nd in program history and the first since Megan Gibbs did it in the Old Hammer Rivalry against Utah Tech back in 2024. Peyton Hall nearly joined her on that list, but had to settle for just the one longball. Utah Valley tied a team single-game record with four home runs against Drake, the 11th time in program history the team reached that mark.
Rodriguez drove in three in the opener against Drake, then drove in one and scored another against the Bluejays. Britney Moreno extended her reached-base streak to six games on the young season, going 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs in the first game, then working a walk and scoring a run in the second.
Utah Valley's pitching staff put the squad in a position to win with a pair of solid games, holding the opposition hitters to just 10 hits total. Ella Miller pitched a complete game against Drake, then Lily Riley and Cam Davis combined to hold the Bluejays to three runs.
GAME ONE
The longball was the story of the opener, with the teams combining for six homers. Ella Miller was able to minimize the impact of the two Bulldog homers, with both being solo shots and allowing just one other hit through the first five frames to pick up the win.
Drake struck first in the bottom of the second on the first of the two solo homers, but Moreno was able to get the Wolverines back on level terms with a round-tripper just inside the foul pole down the left field line in the top of the third.
Emma Haygood launched her first of the day with a shot over the right field fence to lead off the fourth. The lead was short-lived unfortunately as the Bulldogs leveled the scoring with another solo homer in the home half of the inning.
After a scoreless fifth, Utah Valley broke the game wide open with a nine-run sixth inning, the team's most in a frame since dropping nine on Utah Tech midway through last season. Haygood led off the inning with another solo homer, then after Angelique Mann was hit by a pitch, Peyton Hall hit a frozen rope that just cleared the fence in left center to make it 5-2.
The next five Wolverines reached base, with Moreno dunking a bases-loaded single into shallow right to plate one. Amber Rodriguez then cleared the bases with a three-run double to left center. After the bases were loaded again, Hall picked up two more RBIs with about as long of a single as you can get, a ball off the 200-foot marker down the left field line to score the eighth and ninth runs of the inning.
Miller retired the side in the sixth to preserve the run-rule victory, finishing her third collegiate start with two ER allowed on four hits with four strikeouts to earn her first career win.
GAME TWO
Utah Valley jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first against Creighton. After Haygood worked a walk, Bailey Marvin laced a sinking liner to right that got past the diving right fielder, allowing Haygood to score from first and Marvin to slide in for a triple.
With momentum shifting toward the Bluejays in the third, the Wolverines turned a picture-perfect 8-4-2 relay on a double to right center to keep Creighton off the board. Angelique Mann fired to Tatum Hall, who relayed to Mya Higareda to gun down the runner trying to score from first.
Utah Valley seized its own new-found momentum to rally for four runs in the home half of that inning to make it 5-0. Kendyl Purdy tripled to lead off the inning and Moreno worked a walk to put runners at the corners. While the pitcher got the ball after the walk and was looking away, Moreno rounded first and took off for second, with an errant throw into right center allowing Purdy to come in and score and Moreno to wind up at third.
Back-to-back doubles by Rodriguez and Marvin tacked on the next two runs. Mann then hit a ball deep into right center where Creighton center fielder Ella Dalton made a Sportscenter-worthy diving catch to rob her of extra bases, but allowed pinch runner Mackenzie Wright to score easily.
The Bluejays got on the board in the top of the fourth via a solo home run. Four of the five runs Utah Valley conceded on the day came via solo homers.
The Wolverines pushed the lead up to six at 7-1 in the fourth with a little help from the Creighton defense. Purdy reached on an infield single to start the inning and advanced to second on a throwing error. Moreno then reached on an error by the shortstop, with a second error on the play by the first baseman trying to get Purdy at third allowing her to score and Moreno to slide in at third. An unsuccessful squeeze play resulted in Moreno getting tagged out at home, but two more singles, the last of which was by Mann, resulted in the second run of the inning.
Creighton kept the Wolverines off the board over the final two frames to prevent the run-rule, then cut into the deficit with a couple of runs in the seventh, but the rally proved to be too little too late.
Utah Valley will look to ride this momentum into the marquee matchup of the weekend tomorrow afternoon against the No. 15 Arizona Wildcats. First pitch is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. MT and the game will be streamed on ESPN+. The Wolverines will then turn around and face Creighton again immediately after, with that game airing on FloSoftball.
