(Stephenville, Texas - May 6, 2026) - The Trailblazers opened the WAC Tournament on Wednesday night with a 7-4 victory over No. 3 seed UT Arlington in the opening round at the Tarleton Softball Complex.
With the win, the Trailblazers' second-ever victory in the WAC Tournament, Utah Tech will face host and No. 2 seed Tarleton State on Thursday at noon MT in the quarterfinals.
Utah Tech (19-32) totaled 12 hits in the contest led by a 4-for-4 performance from the dish by WAC Player of the Year
Kinley Pappas. The sophomore belted her team-leading 12th home run of the season, scored three runs and drove in three RBIs.
Summer Sanderson and
Drew McKown added two hits apiece while
Sadie Phillips ripped her third triple of the season.
In the circle,
Sauren Garton earned her sixth win of the season and second career WAC Tournament victory tossing five innings limiting UT Arlington (24-22) to five hits and two runs.
Delaney Wright threw the final two innings of the contest allowing four hits, two runs and struck out one.
How It Happened
The Trailblazers jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead after the first inning with an RBI single to left field by Sanderson.
Two more runs came around in the third on a two-run round-tripper to left center by Pappas.
UT extended their lead to 7-0 with a four-run fourth inning with McKown scoring after a throwing error by the Mavericks' catcher followed by an RBI single by Pappas.
Sanderson added her second and third RBIs of the night on a two-run RBI double down the right field line.
UTA broke up Garton's shutout bid in the fifth on a bases-loaded walk and added three more runs in the sixth scoring the final pair on an RBI single up the middle.
After a two-out single loaded the bases for the Mavs, Wright got a fly out to Phillips in right to strand the bases loaded before retiring UTA in order in the seventh.
Up Next
The Trailblazers will take on host and No. 2 seed Tarleton State in the quarterfinals on Thursday at noon MT.
