Weber State University Athletics
Weber State University
Utah Valley
Wildcats out-duel Wolverines in sweep
4/6/2016 4:12:00 AM | Softball
OGDEN – It wasn't particularly pretty, but the Wildcats did the job they needed to do.
Freshman centerfielder JaeCie Wilson, senior shortstop Aubrey Whitmer, and sophomore second baseman McKinley Brinkerhoff each recorded a trio of hits as the Weber State University softball battled past in-state rival Utah Valley twice on Tuesday afternoon, recording a doubleheaders sweep by 5-3 and 8-6 decisions.
The Wildcats improved to 23-12 overall, and extended their current winning streak to a school record-tying seven straight games. Weber State also defeated the Wolverines for the eighth consecutive time, and are 8-0 vs. Utah Valley under head coach Mary Kay Amicone.
Weber State scored on an RBI walk by sophomore catcher Molly Horne in the first inning of the opening game, and made it 2-0 on Riana Splinter's RBI single in the second. Utah Valley (5-26) staged a two-out rally in the third with three straight hits resulting in three runs to give the Wolverines a 3-2 lead.
It didn't last long.
The Wildcats tied the game up by the third batter of the bottom half of the inning when senior first baseman Krystin Kubo's sacrifice fly to left field scored Horne, and Brinkerhoff brought junior right fielder Sara Hingsberger across in the next at-bat to put Weber State back in front to stay.
Sophomore right-hander Kirtlyn Bohling, the reigning Big Sky Conference Pitcher of the Week, improved to 14-3 overall with her 11th complete game of the year. Bohling allowed six hits, three runs and three walks against six strikeouts. The 14 wins is tied for the second-most in a single season in school history, and is just two behind former pitcher Sarah Clark's 16 wins in 2012.
In the second game, the Wildcats scored three two-out runs after Whitmer doubled to center field, junior catcher KyRae Kogianes singled to right field, and Horne doubled to center field in consecutive at-bats to make it 2-0. Hingsberger followed that up with an RBI single to center field.
After Brinkerhoff and Wilson singled in the second, Kulp had a two RBI single to left field that put the Wildcats in front 5-0 after two.
The Wolverines pulled back a run in the top of the third, but the Wildcats added two more on an error by the Utah Valley catcher and an RBI at-bat by junior left fielder Carley White, to make it 7-1 after the third.
Weber State went ahead 8-1 in the fourth on Hingsberger's RBI and threatened to end the game early on run-rule with two on and only one out, but the Wolverines got out of the inning and scored twice in the top of the fifth to cut it to 8-3.
Utah Valley hit a two-out, three-run home run in the seventh to make it 8-6, but Brinkerhoff caught a pop-up at second base on the next at-bat to end the game.
Weber State will be back in action this weekend against in-state rival Southern Utah for a three-game Big Sky Conference series, beginning at Noon on Friday in Cedar City, Utah.
