Utah Valley Wolverines women’s softball team advanced to the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) semifinals on May 8 after defeating Southern Utah, but later fell to Tarleton State in Stephenville, Texas.
The tournament run saw Britney Moreno and Tatum Hall each hit home runs in the opening game against Southern Utah, helping secure a 2-1 victory. Pitcher Lily Riley delivered a complete game for her seventeenth win of the season, which is now the second most wins in program history. Riley also pitched four innings of relief in the semifinal matchup against Tarleton State, allowing just one earned run.
Hall continued her strong performance by hitting another home run in game two. This marked her fifty-third run batted in (RBI) of the season—a new program record—and gave her thirteen home runs as a left-handed batter this year, surpassing Heidi Stocks’ previous single-season mark set in 2007.
Utah Valley has now reached the WAC semifinals for three consecutive seasons. Before this stretch, they had only made it that far once before—in 2014—when they won their lone conference title.
In their first game of the day, Moreno’s solo homer put Utah Valley ahead before Hall added another with a shot to center field. Southern Utah narrowed the gap with a fifth-inning RBI single but could not overcome Riley’s pitching down the stretch.
Against Tarleton State later that day, Hall’s record-breaking solo homer gave Utah Valley an early lead. However, Tarleton responded with six runs aided by defensive miscues from Utah Valley. The Wolverines attempted a comeback with RBIs from Ry Binne and Payge Armendariz but ultimately fell short as Tarleton secured an 8-4 win and advanced to face California Baptist for a chance at their first NCAA Division I Tournament appearance.
