Box Score

FARMERS BRANCH, Texas - The first Division I season for the UNO softball team came to an end Monday morning with a 5-4 loss in nine innings to top-seeded Utah Valley in a Great West Conference Tournament elimination game at Oran Good Park.

The Mavs finished their inaugural Division I season with a 24-18 record. Utah Valley (31-26-1) advanced to play Houston Baptist in the championship game Monday afternoon with UVU needing to win twice to capture the title.

The Mavs posted a 1-2 record at the tournament. After falling to Houston Baptist in the opening round, 3-1, the Mavs rallied to defeat North Dakota in an elimination game, 4-2 (10 inn.), on Sunday evening.

Against Utah Valley, UNO struck for two runs in the bottom of the third inning to stake a 2-0 lead. With two outs gone, Tonya Peterson and Lindsay Redding hit back-to-back singles. Lauren Larson then doubled to the gap in right center to score both.

But in the top of the fourth, errors cost the Mavericks the lead. Krystin Jachim singled with one out, and Amanda Perez reached on a fielder's choice, as a Maverick error let Jachim reach second base safely. Jamie North then singled to right field and advanced to second on another Maverick miscue, allowing a run to score from second and Perez to advance to third. Deianna Russell then singled to left field to score Perez and move North to third to tie the game at 2-2. Jessica Uresti reached base on the third Maverick error of the inning, scoring North for a 3-2 lead. But Cassie Herrera hit a grounder to Dana Elsasser with the bases loaded, and the Mavs were able to get out of the jam with a forceout at home.

The Wolverines notched another run in the fifth inning on an RBI single by Russell to score Amanda Robinson to make it 4-2. That ended the day for Elsasser, who allowed four runs (three earned) on eight hits in 4.1 innings. Kat Barrow came on in relief and ended the inning with consecutive outs.

But just like on Sunday, the Mavs had a rally in them. In the bottom of the fifth, Larson recorded a one-out single and Lutmer walked, putting runners at first and second for Molly Negrete, who singled to load the bases. Katelyn Hinton came up with a clutch hit, singling to left field to advance each runner one base and score pinch-runner Mollie Jones. Ashley Lynch drew a bases-loaded walk to tie the game 4-4 with still just one out gone. Megan Peay replaced Tiffany Mills in the circle for UVU and got Kiley Thalken to ground to third to force out Negrete at home, and then got Mara Eeman to pop up to end the inning.

For the second straight game, the Mavs and their opponent would head to extra innings. In the top of the ninth, Robinson and Jachim led off with back-to-back singles to left field for Utah Valley. Perez sacrifice bunted the runners to second and third. Barrow got North to pop up to Negrete at third for the second out, but Russell singled to left field to score Robinson for the 5-4 lead before the Mavs could get out of the inning.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Mavs were retired in order by Peay, who earned the win after throwing 4.2 shutout innings while allowing just one hit. Barrow (9-7) took the loss after going 4.2 innings with one run on four hits.

Redding went 2-for-5 with a run scored to finish with a .309 batting average on the season. Only Lutmer finished higher for the Mavericks at .333. Larson went 2-for-5 with two RBIs to lead the Mavs in the final game of her career. The rest of the Maverick seniors contributed in some way in their final game. Hinton finished 1-for-3 with an RBI, while Lynch had an RBI, Jones had a run scored and Emma Wright drew two walks. Senior Molly Feichtinger - whose career ended due to injury - leaves UNO with the third-highest on-base percentage in school history at .460.