UC Davis-Louisville Box Score | UC Davis-UNLV Box Score

LAS VEGAS - Outfielder Krista Bava drove in two runs and shortstop Christa Castello recorded a RBI of her own as part of UC Davis' three-run third inning in Friday's season opener at the Sportco Kick-Off Classic, but the Aggies were unable to climb out of an early four-run hole and fell to Louisville, 6-4.

In Friday's nightcap, the Aggies faced tournament host UNLV and were able to jump out to an early lead until the Rebels scored a combined 11 runs in the final three innings to top UC Davis, 12-4, in six innings.

Louisville started its season by receiving votes in both the USA Today/NFCA and ESPN.com/USA Softball national polls, and is the first of three teams on the Aggies' weekend slate that enter this Kick-Off Classic with national recognition.

Even though the Cardinals scored four runs in the first inning, the Aggies responded with three in the third to pull within one.

A double through the left side of the infield scored Katie Robertson and Alexandra Sotomayor, Aggies who initially reached base on a leadoff single and fielder's choice. Later that inning, Bava touched the plate on Castello's single to left field.

The back-and-forth battle continued the very next inning when the Cardinals tacked on another two runs to bump their lead to three runs. That inning was crucial to the game's final result because Kaila Olson scored on a wild pitch in the top of the sixth inning.

Without that two-run fourth, the game would have been tied at four apiece. Instead, Louisville left the diamond with a two-run win.

UC Davis returned to action six hours later to cap its day with a game against tournament host UNLV - the second time in as many seasons that the Aggies battled the Rebels in their own tournament.

The Aggies started strong by plating two runs in their initial set of at-bats beginning with Amy Nunez' RBI double down the left field line. In addition to placing herself in scoring position, that hit allowed Castello, who reached second on a single to center, followed by a stolen base, to score the game's inaugural run.

Two batters later, Alexis Carney drove in the first of her two runs when she was plunked by a pitch, with the bases loaded. By reaching first base the hard way, Carney pushed Nunez across the plate and doubled her team's lead to a 2-0 advantage.

Nunez advanced from second base, to third, when Kelly Zboralske smacked a double to center field.

UNLV responded with one run of its own in the bottom half of that same inning, but it was the events that took place in the bottom of the fourth that took a one-run Rebel deficit and turned it into a four-run lead.

In that frame, nine players took their swings against three Aggie pitchers, and recorded five runs on three hits to take the lead for good.

Heads-up baserunning by Christina Guidry turned a bunt single into the UC Davis' third run after she stole second, and advanced to third on a miscue by the Rebels' catcher on that same play. Guidry scored on the following play when Carney grounded out to second base.

Bava started the sixth inning by drawing a four-pitch leadoff walk, then advanced another 60 feet after Castello reached base on a hit-by-pitch. A single up the middle from Nunez and a fielder's choice during Guidry's final at-bat of the evening allowed Bava to score.

As was the case in the first inning when UNLV responded to an Aggie scoring situation with one of its own, the Rebels also scored three runs in their half of the fifth and sixth innings to defeat UC Davis via run rule.

UC Davis will return to Eller Media Stadium Saturday morning to play back-to-back games against No. 13/11 Washington at 9 a.m., and No. 15/15 Minnesota immediately thereafter at 11:15 a.m.

Live stats links for each game are available at ucdavisaggies.com.

Louisville 6, UC Davis 4

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UC Davis............ 003 001 0 - 4 8 5 (0-1)
Louisville........... 400 200 X - 6 10 1 (1-0)

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Pitchers: UC Davis - Munden, Leah; Vela, Justine (4); Reynolds, Andrea (6) and Robertson, Katie. Louisville - McCOMBS; FLAHERTY(6); BECKER(7) and DILLARD. Win-McCOMBS(1-0) Loss-Olson, Kaila(0-1) T-2:10 A-0 HR LOU - DUNCAN. Weather: 54* & calm, really calm. BECKER faced 3 batters in the 7th.

UNLV 12, UC Davis 4

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UC Davis............ 200 011 - 4 7 1 (0-2)
UNLV................. 100 533 - 12 13 2 (2-0)

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Pitchers: UC Davis - Cruse, Dana; Paine, Alicia(4); Chapa, Marissa(4); Vela, Justine(5); Munden, Leah(6) and Robertson, Katie; Carney, Alexis. UNLV - ETTINGER, M.; FOTI, F.(4) and STOVER, B.. Win-FOTI, F.(1-0) Loss-Cruse, Dana(0-1) T-2:21 A-0 HR UNLV - HASLINGER, E. Cruse, D. faced 2 batters in the 4th. Paine, A. faced 3 batters in the 4th. Munden, L. faced 5 batters in the 6th.