Miloch and Rote go Yard in Loss to Wolverines

OREM - Avery Miloch and Emma 'Bubba' Rote each hit a fourth-inning home run, and Talia Nielsen was once again efficient with 71 pitches, but consecutive two-out seventh-inning hits pushed Utah Valley past Abilene Christian softball, 4-3, Friday evening at Wolverine Field.

Nielsen, the defending WAC Pitcher of the Week, retired the first two UVU batters of the seventh on three pitches. Unfortunately, Taylor Wooten kept the inning alive with a single to center and scored two pitches later on Britney Moreno's game-winning double to right.

The loss snapped a three-game WAC winning streak for the Wildcats, which rallied back from a 2-0 deficit on round trippers from Miloch and Rote. Miloch's two-run shot off starter Brooke Saili was her team leading ninth of the spring, tying the score at 2-2 after Sammi Shelander was hit by a pitch. Two batters later, Rote blasted a home run to straightaway center field, providing ACU a 3-2 lead.

Saili surrendered one more hit in the fourth to Logan Gaspar before turning the game over to Katie Zuniga, who held the Wildcats' hitless over the final 3.0 innings on 51 pitches. Zuniga issued a pair of free passes, but neither of those Wildcats advanced past first base.

UVU tied the score at 3-3 on Zuniga's behalf behind a pair of singles. The Wolverines put runners at the corners with one out, and Megan Gibbs drove home Libbie Hawker with a ground ball to shortstop. 

The Wolverines scored their first two runs on three hits in the third inning. This after Nielsen retired her first six batters on only nine pitches with Shelander snaring two inning-ending line drives at first base.

Hawker broke the scoreless tie on a RBI single, plating Rylee Thorpe. Moreno then scored went an errant Wildcat throw landed in shallow center field.

ACU had chances early to score first. Shelander doubled in the first with two gone, and Deweyville, Utah native Olivia Taylor led off the second with a triple but Saili battled back to get a strikeout sandwiched between two fly balls to left field.

The two sides conclude their three-game series Saturday with a 2 p.m. twinbill.