Omaha split its doubleheader in St. George, Utah, on Saturday, falling to BYU 9-8 before bouncing back with a 12-2 run-rule win over Utah Tech. The Mavericks were inches away from a doubleheader sweep, but BYU rallied late to steal the opener before Omaha dominated the second game.
The first game turned into an offensive shootout. Omaha struck first in the second inning when Marra Cramer singled, stole second and later scored on a Sammy Schmidt RBI single to give the Mavericks a 1-0 lead.
BYU answered quickly. The Cougars tied the game in the third and then jumped ahead with back-to-back home runs from Hailey Morrow and Bre Townsend in the fourth inning. Morrow struck again in the fifth with a two-run homer, stretching the BYU lead to 5-1.
Omaha slowly chipped away. Ava Rongisch blasted a two-run home run in the fifth to cut the deficit to 5-3. After BYU added another run in the sixth, the Mavericks delivered their biggest moment of the game.
With the bases loaded, Rongisch launched her second home run of the day, a grand slam to center field, to suddenly give Omaha a 7-6 lead.
The momentum didn’t last long. BYU responded in the seventh when Townsend hit a two-run home run to retake the lead. Kaiya Fabela added another solo homer later in the inning to push the Cougar advantage to 9-7.
Omaha threatened one final time in the bottom of the seventh. Taylor Sedlacek doubled and later scored on a sacrifice fly from Katherine Johnson to pull the Mavericks within one run, but BYU closed the door to secure the win.
Rongisch led Omaha with two home runs and six RBIs in the loss.
The Mavericks quickly regrouped in the second game, overpowering Utah Tech 12-2 in five innings.
Omaha broke the game open in the second inning. Cramer started the rally with a double before Alyson Edwards singled to put runners on the corners. Schmidt drove in the first run with a single, and Rylee White followed with a sacrifice fly. Rylinn Groff then capped the inning with a two-run single to give Omaha a 4-0 lead.
The Mavericks added three more runs in the fourth. Rongisch doubled and later scored on an error, and Bailey Sample delivered a two-run single to stretch the lead to 7-0.
Utah Tech scored twice in the bottom of the fourth, both runs coming on Omaha errors, but Alexis Wiggins limited the damage and kept the Trailblazers quiet the rest of the game.
Omaha sealed the run-rule victory with a five-run fifth inning. Schmidt crushed a three-run homer to right field before Sedlacek added a two-run home run to left center to extend the lead to 11-2.
Wiggins was dominant in the circle, allowing just one hit and no earned runs in five innings to earn the win. Schmidt finished with four RBIs while Cramer, Rongisch and Schmidt each recorded two hits as Omaha scored 12 runs on nine hits.
The split moved the Mavericks to 17-7 on the season. Omaha returns to Connie Claussen Field for the first time this season to kick off Summit League play. The Lady Mavs will host NDSU (16-13) from March 20-22.
