The second game on day two of the 2026 MW Softball Tournament was a matchup between tournament host No. 3 seed Nevada and their hated in-state rivals, the UNLV Rebels, who just a week earlier had swept the Wolf Pack in Las Vegas. Nevada got its long-awaited revenge against its Southern rivals, defeating the Rebels 18-9 to win 13-6.
The game was a rematch of Game 1 of the regular season series between these teams, with MW Pitcher of the Year Lauren Fetti making her third start against the Wolf Pack in the past seven days. Tess Bumiller, on the other hand, was called up to start for Nevada less than a day after being knocked out of the lineup after a fumble hit her head during warmups. Bumiller did look a little shaky early on, striking out her first two batters in the bottom of the first inning. She took a page out of Haley McClain’s book the rest of the way and immediately struck out the next three batters to tie the first inning.
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The Wolfpack struck first, with back-to-back doubles by Haley Engelbrecht and Talia Tretton in the bottom half of the second inning. Nevada went two-and-one, but Fetic forced a double play in the bottom of the inning to stop the Wolves’ offense. UNLV got their first two hits of the game in the bottom half before the Wolfpack got two outs on two pitches, a two-run double by Brie Williams on the next pitch to give the Rebels a 2-1 lead at the end of the second.
In the third inning, Katie Wetteland and Hannah Di Genova hit two consecutive doubles to tie the score at 2-2. Nevada continued its two-out run with back-to-back walks, but Keyannah Chavez caught a would-be three-run hit in deep left field to give the Packers ample resources. The University of Nevada, Las Vegas took the lead again in the bottom of the third, scoring on an RBI single by Presley Barnes after a stolen base, and then Mantha Hatzenbeller extended the lead on a solo homer that drove the disgusting Bumiller out of the game.
Nevada came out on fire in the fourth quarter, scoring five points on a series of double plays and untimely turnovers by the Rebels. The University of Nevada, Las Vegas scored on a fielder’s choice in the bottom of the fourth quarter but still went from a two-run lead at the start of the inning to a two-run deficit at the end. In the fifth inning, both teams had two runners each but no one broke through. The score was still locked at 7-5, entering the final sprint.
Nevada scored three runs in the top of the sixth inning on a bases-loaded walk and two-run hit by Riley Hayes to extend its lead to 10-5, although DiGenova’s rare grounder left the bases loaded. UNLV took the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning when Natalie Turner hit a home run, but Berlingeri struck out three straight innings to keep the team’s lead at 10-6.
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As a home team on the road, the Wolfpack moved into seventh place looking for some insurance. Glover and Hayes each had one more run on the plate, and then the bases-loaded equivalent of a Benny Hill sketch allowed another run while also recording the bottom of Hayes’ inning. In the end, Nevada got revenge on its southern rival with a score of 13-6.
Engelbrecht, Hayes, Tretton and Matlin Leach each had three hits on the night, with Hayes proving she deserves to be in the starting lineup given her performance as a pinch hitter. Bellingeri earned the win with a stellar relief performance, pitching 3.1 innings, allowing just three hits and two runs, while striking out four. Nevada has now scored 23 runs in the first 12 innings of the MW Championship, showcasing their lethal offense on their biggest stage yet.
Nevada will face top-seeded Grand Canyon National in the first game tomorrow starting at 12:00 PM PST. Nevada is the only Mountain West team to beat GCU in a regular-season series, and they did so on the road in Phoenix. The winner of this game will immediately advance to Saturday’s championship game and only needs to win one of two games to take home the Mountain West Conference title.
