by PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico – The Nevada softball team opened up its 2018 season with a 9-3 win over Louisiana Tech, followed by seesaw 8-7 loss to No. 23 James Madison. After the two games, the Wolf Pack sits at 1-1 on its early campaign.
On the day, the Pack’s offense exploded for a combined 16 runs off of a combined 21 hits. The team hit .350 (21-for-60) in its first two games, to go along with a pair of home runs and 13 RBIs. In the circle, junior Kali Sargent (Washoe Tribe) opened up the season with a complete game, where she allowed just three runs and struck out five batters in the process.
After sitting out the 2017 season, redshirt sophomore Kwynn Warner came back strong in her first two games, hitting .500 (4-for8) on the day to go along with a pair of RBIs and one run scored. Making her collegiate debut was freshman Jessica Sellers, who showed off her power, launching a home run and a double as two of her three hits on the day.
The Pack fell behind early against LA Tech (0-1) but fired back to score seven unanswered runs to take a 7-1 lead into the bottom half of the fifth. After the Lady Techsters responded with two runs of their own, Nevada came back with a two-run home run in the top of the seventh, courtesy of sophomore Sadaria McAlister‘s first career long ball. Those two runs helped seal the 9-3 win for the Pack to earn the first victory of the 2018 campaign.
In the night time matchup against one of the best teams and pitching staffs in the country in James Madison (1-0), Nevada jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the top of the second to ignite the back-and-forth action. After Nevada bounced back with three runs of its own in the top of the third to reclaim a 6-5 lead, JMU responded by scoring a run in the bottom of the inning to knot the score at six a side.
When the Pack took its third lead of the game by scoring another run in the top of fourth to claim a 7-6 advantage, James Madison came right back in the second half of the inning with two runs of its own to seal the 8-7 win.
