Shelander a HR shy of the cycle at UVU

OREM - Abilene Christian softball lost both ends of its Saturday doubleheader at Utah Valley's Wolverine Field by scores of 10-4 and 7-2.

Utah natives Mercedes Eichelberger and Olivia Taylor, along with Sammie Shelander today were a combined 10-for-18 at the plate, contributing four runs, five RBI, a pair of doubles and triples, and four walks.

Shelander, in fact, finished a home run short of the cycle in game two, going 3-for-4 with a RBI and run scored. Her season average is up to a team best .326.

Despite collecting nine hits in each game today, the Wildcats unfortunately left the same number of runners stranded (18) as they slipped to 3-6 in conference action. They'll look to rebound next Friday at 3 p.m. for the start of a three-game WAC series vs. Tarleton at Poly Wells Field.
 

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Game Two | UVU 7, ACU 2
The Utahn connection of Eichelberger (Tremonton) and Taylor (Deweyville) gave the Wildcats a 1-0 lead on consecutive singles from the top of the order. Eichelberger singled down the left-field line and hustled all the way home on Taylor's subsequent base knock.

UVU, however, soon tied the score at 1-1 on a sacrifice fly to center field, but the Wildcats escaped further damage as Eichelberger was able to gun Jaeden Barajas down at third base.

The Wolverines snapped the 1-1 tie in the fourth when Megan Gibbs cracked a two-run shot over the wall in right field. They then added four insurance runs in the sixth on as many hits.

Shelander tried to bring the Wildcats back in each inning afterward. She clubbed an RBI double scoring Taylor in ACU's half of the fifth, and sliced a one-out triple to right field in the seventh only to be left stranded.

Riley White started the nightcap for the Wildcats followed by Emma Rote and Laurén Schiek, who also pitched several innings of game one.
 

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Game One | UVU 10, ACU 4
The Wildcats battled back from an early 3-0 deficit only to see the Wolverines score seven times during their final two at-bats en route to a 10-4 win.

Laurén Schiek, who relieved Talia Nielsen in the first after the starter allowed four consecutive hits to begin the game, retired the first 12 Wolverines she faced before running into trouble in the fifth.

Schiek entered the frame having only thrown 32 pitches, but the UVU offense connected three hits to break the 3-3 tie and later benefited from two walks and two wild pitches tossed by Elizabeth Schaefer.

Nielsen then returned to finish the game, allowing two additional runs on five hits.

The Wildcats ripped nine hits, but only two for extra bases, as they stranded nine on the base paths.

ACU began its three-run comeback in the second, when Logan Gaspar dove around the tag of catcher Jaeden Barajas following Mercedes Eichelberger's single to shallow left.

An inning later, ACU cut its deficit to 3-2 on Emma Rote's two-out, full-count RBI single, plating Sammie Shelander, and tied the game on Olivia's Taylor's fourth-inning sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Miranda Lista.

Taylor and Rote also made spectacular catches on the warning track as part of a scoreless fourth.

Taylor provided a second sacrifice fly RBI, driving home Eichelberger in the sixth for the Wildcats' final run.