FRESNO, Calif. — A day after being held to just two hits against Utah Valley (3-5), the Gaels' (4-4) bats came to life against the Wolverines to the tune of seven runs and nine hits. Unfortunately, the Wolverines struck for nine runs, six of which came in the second inning en route to their second victory over the Gaels in as many days.

After a scoreless first frame from Mia Nishikawa, the Gaels struck first when freshman phenom Sam Buckley doubled home Marissa Montelongo for her then 10th RBI of the season. The Wolverines responded with a six run second inning, and worked ahead 9-2 through four and half innings. The Gaels continued to battle back, however, and gave themselves a chance to get back into this one. It started in the bottom of the fifth, when Montelongo legged out an infield single plating Gracie Carpenter, and then stole second before taking third and home on a wild pitch to cut the deficit to five. In the sixth, Jenavee Amador lifted a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Tori Cervantes, and the UVU lead was cut down to four. In their final stand, the Gaels would push across two more when Buckley launched her second career home run over the left field fence, bringing the score to 9-7. Unfortunately, that's all the Gaels could muster up, falling 9-7. 

The Gaels second game of the day was pushed to tomorrow, due to inclement weather. 

RBI MACHINE
Sam Buckley continues to deliver with runners on base. The freshman cleanup hitter for the Gaels has accounted for 12 of the 37 Gaels RBI. Six of her nine hits have been of the extra base variety, as she also holds a team-high 1.627 on base+slugging. BUckley has already made a strong case to be in the discussion for WCC Freshman of the Year. 

WOLVERTON KEEPS EM IN IT
Avrey Wolverton had her best outing of the young season, tossing 4.1 innings out of the bullpen, surrendering just two unearned runs. Wolverton entered the game trailing 7-2, and did everything in her power to keep the Gaels in contention. If not for two unearned runs, Wolverton could've pitched the Gaels into extra innings, as the score would've been level at 7-7 without those two coming across. 

SPEEDSTERS
For the second time this season, the Gaels had a three stolen base game, bringing their total to 13 (on 15 attempts) for the season. All three of those stolen bases belonged to Marissa Montelongo, who is a perfect 9-9 through the first eight games of the season. Montelongo now boasts 33 stolen bases for her career, good for ninth most in program history. She's seven away from moving into the top-five. 

UP NEXT
The Gaels will play Fresno State in a double header, starting at 11:30 AM tomorrow. 

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