Softball Quells Rebels

Friday, March 31

Salt Lake City

1:00 PM

University of Utah

UNLV (DH)

3/31/2006 12:00 AM | Softball

March 31, 2006

Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

SALT LAKE CITY - The University of Utah softball team (20-10 overall, 2-0 Mountain West) showed that it can win a slugfest and a pitchers dual this afternoon as it began Mountain West Conference play with a pair of wins over UNLV (15-26, 0-4) here at Ute Field today.

The Utes pounded out an 18-2 win in the first game over the Rebels and then captured a defensive 1-0 win over UNLV in the second game.

Jackie Wong led the offense on the day as she banged out four hits and tallied five RBI on the afternoon. She was 4-for-6, which included a grand slam home run in the first game. Meghan Crouse also had a stellar afternoon at the plate. She had the best average, going 3-for-4 (.750) today, pushing three RBI across the plate.

Karina Cannon got the win in game one as she improved to 8-4 on the year. She allowed five hits and two earned runs, mowing down two and walking one.

Meghan Dyer got the nod in game two and tallied her 10th win on the season (10-3). She fanned eight Rebel batters in walking three. The Rebels scattered two hits off of Dyer.

The Utes return to action when they host conference rival San Diego State on Saturday. First pitch of the doubleheader is set for noon.

Utah 18, UNLV 2 (5)
The Utes jumped all over the Rebels in game one, batting around in the first inning and scoring six of the first 10 batters.

Utah was up 2-0 with bases loaded in the first inning when a fielder's choice by Staci Hemingway and an RBI single by Sharee Fonoti doubled the Ute lead, 4-0. But, the most damage came from the bat of Meghan Crouse in the nine hole. She hit a two-RBI double to left field, scoring Fonoti and Andrea Hoffman.

Although Utah was quiet in the second inning, the sleeping giant awoke when Wong hit a grand slam homerun to give Utah an insurmountable 10-2 lead.

The Rebels' only two runs came in the second inning, Bri Bernardi hit a two-run shot over the center field fence.

The Utes batted around again in the fifth, inning, scoring eight more runs and capitalizing on three of UNLV's four errors that inning.

Utah 1, UNLV 0
Dyer held the Rebels scoreless and Devina Quintero hit her second home run of the season in combining to lift Utah to the one-run shutout victory.

A leadoff home run in the fourth inning by Quintero was the only offense for the entire game. It gave Utah the 1-0 lead.

The Rebels chalked up hits in both the first and second innings but were retired 1-2-3 in last five innings.