OREM, Utah — Britney Moreno blasted her first collegiate home run and Katie Zuniga quieted the Lopes' bats to lift Utah Valley to a 3-1 win and a doubleheader split to open this weekend's WAC series with Grand Canyon.
Moreno's home run cleared the fence in left and gave Zuniga the cushion she needed to work through the vaunted Lopes lineup that leads the WAC in just about every offensive category.
Zuniga went the distance and allowed just one earned run on four hits, two of which came in the seventh inning. The lone blemish on Zuniga's line score was a solo home run by Kayla Rodgers in the third. Only three Lopes were able to reach base as Zuniga pounded the strike zone and was able to get a number of quick outs.
"Katie was huge for us, to only give up four hits. We probably played our best home game of the year," said head coach Cody Thomson. "We pitched it well, played defense well, we hit it well and put the ball in play. That first game was impressive to me."
Rylee Thorpe and Angelique Mann each went 2-for-3 in the opener. Mann is now tied for the team lead with Megan Gibbs with seven multi-hit games this season.
The nightcap of Friday's doubleheader was also the first official home night game at Wolverine Softball Field, as the brand-new lights took full effect as the night went on. The state-of-the-art lighting system was installed this past offseason, and can change colors as well as do special effects to celebrate Wolverine home runs and wins.
"I think the lights look awesome," said Thomson. "They're going to enhance the experience both for the fans and us as a team. We're very grateful for all the people that made this possible."
GAME 1
The Wolverines jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first after Zuniga sent GCU down in order. Libbie Hawker led off the game with a single to left, then was bunted over to second by Jaeden Barajas. Megan Gibbs blasted a ball off the top of the wall in center to bring in Hawker, but was held to a single.
Kalena Shepherd kept the line moving when she reached on an error by the second baseman. Payge Armendariz hit a slow roller to the third baseman Madison Schaefer, who turned to tag Gibbs running to third, but the ball popped out of her glove as she applied the tag, allowing Gibbs to come in to score. Rylee Thorpe singled to load the bases, but Taylor Wooten flew out to end the inning.
Zuniga was able to pitch around a leadoff double from Kristin Fifield for a scoreless second. Moreno led off the bottom half of the inning to extend the lead to three.
GCU got their lone run in the top of the third to cut into the lead when Rodgers launched a home run over the fence in right-center to lead off the inning. Zuniga would then retire 12-straight Lopes batters to send the game to the top of the seventh at 3-1.
After a leadoff single to start the inning, Zuniga was able to get Fifield to ground into a double play. The next batter would reach, but Zuniga was able to get the final batter to line out to center.
GAME 2
The Lopes were able to get to Brooke Saili early in the nightcap, pushing across three runs in the top of the first. Jorja Barrett came on in relief in the second and allowed two more runs, but was able to settle down from there. Barrett pitched six strong innings out of the bullpen for the Wolverines, striking out four Lopes and walking none.
Barajas hit her fifth home run of the season to cut the deficit down to 5-1 in the third, but GCU was able to tack on another run in the top of the fourth to extend the lead back up to five.
The Wolverines and Lopes will reconvene at Wolverine Softball Field tomorrow at 12 p.m. MDT for the rubber match of this three-game set. Tomorrow's game will be live streamed on ESPN+, with live stats available at UVUStats.com.
