April 18, 2011
CARRAMUSA PLAYER OF WEEK: UNM’S Stefanie Carramusa, a 5-4 sophomore from Tucson, Ariz., led the Lobos a two-game sweep at Colorado State. Carramusa hit .571, 4-for-7 at the plate with four extra base hits, six RBIs and scored five runs. She hit a two-run homer in the first game of the series and a solo shot in Game Two.
Lobo Softball – At Lobo Field
Tuesday: 4:30 p.m., New Mexico State at Lobos
GoLobos.com: GameTracker, Game Recap, Stats
Thursday: 6 p.m. (MT) Lobos at Brigham Young – On The Mtn. (TV)
By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
There will be great drama Tuesday at Lobo Field when the New Mexico State Aggies try to prove to the New Mexico Lobos that the Aggie team the Lobos spanked 3-2 in Las Cruces on April 4 was not the typical Aggies.
The Lobos will be out to do it again.
For sure, the 3-2 count that favored Lobos in Las Cruces was somewhat of a surprise and not because the much-improved Lobos won the game. The surprise was holding the hard-hitting, home-run hammering Aggies to only two runs on their home turf.
And beating them via the long ball. UNM smacked two balls out of the Aggies’ park to one for the home team.
Normally, the Aggies are ball pounders. They led the nation in hitting in 2009. They have the nation’s top home run hitter in Hoku Nohara, who has smashed 20 dingers so far in 2011.
The Aggies will stroll into Lobo Field riding a five-game win streak. That streak includes a weekend doubleheader sweep of Nevada in which NMSU pounded out 36 hits and 22 runs. That onslaught of good bat work including Nohara’s 20th bomb and four homers by Tiare Jennings, who now has 13 dingers. NMSU is 32-12 overall and 11-1 in league (Western Athletic) play.
The Aggies averaged 18 hits in two games at Nevada. The Lobos held NMSU to five hits in Cruces. Yeah, you can bet the Aggies are going to be fired up to avoid a season sweep by UNM.
This Jennings/Nohara part of the NMSU lineup is enough drama in itself. You can’t pitch around Jennings, usually in the No. 3 spot, because Nohara is in the No. 4 spot. Pick your poison.
Of course, there are a lot of sticks in the NMSU lineup with potential pain to offer opposing pitchers. The Aggies often toss out a lineup in which the top seven batter average .350 or higher. Nohara will step onto Lobo Field with a .456 average.
Nohara is worth the price of admission just to watch her one-on-one duels with New Mexico pitching.
“She obviously is a tough out,” said Erica Beach, UNM’s first-year coach. “We can’t let their best player beat us and we have to have a strategy for her. She is a huge offensive threat, but they aren’t defined by one hitter. They are tough up and down their lineup.”
Nohara missed the first UNM game, but has returned to the Aggies’ lineup after serving a three-game suspension after being charged with a felony count of aggravated battery against a roommate/teammate. Her future status with the team depends on how the court case turns out.
On Tuesday, she is expected to be in the batter’s box and what she does with the bat could be perceived as battery on a pitcher. Nohara can hammer a ball. She is a four-time state wrestling champ from Hawaii. Her NMSU bio lists her as a 13-time world record holder in bench press, where she once tossed up a mere 352 pounds.
Nohara probably could bench three Lobos, but can she go “yard” on a Lobo pitcher?
The Lobos also will strut onto Lobo Field riding some good times. UNM has put together three straight Mountain West Conference wins and rides a 17-17 overall mark and a 3-2 MWC slate into Tuesday’s non-conference encounter with Aggies.
This is a remarkable turnaround for Beach and her staff, who were charged with rebuilding a Lobo program that crumbled to an 11-37 mark (1-14 MWC) in 2010. UNM, the team that lost 23 of its final 24 games last year, has won five out of eight.
“We’re definitely playing with confidence,” said Beach. “The sweep of Colorado State (13-5, 19-6) was really good for us, especially offensively to put a lot of runs on the board.”
Beach recognizes and appreciates that the Aggies are a solid softball program. She wants this rivalry to be competitive on the field. “
“I think it’s important in a rivalry that both teams are competitive,” said Beach. “Good rivalries should go back and fourth and be hard fought.
“For us to take the first game of the series was big for our program. Up until now, people just looked at them as the better program in the state. We want to take that crown back and be the best program in the state and if we can do that against a quality program like New Mexico State, that’s even more of an accomplishment.
“For us to be the best program in the state, we know we have to work hard and beat out somebody who is very good.”
As far as the Lobos/Aggie chase for the annual Rio Grande Rivalry title, this game has little meaning. The Lobos are up on NMSU 18.75 points to 7.5 and this softball game is the final game in the series. The winner Tuesday will add .75 points to their school’s total.
“The rest of our sports have done a good job in getting us enough points to win,” said Beach. “But that doesn’t mean we are taking this game lightly. This is an important game for both teams.”
The Lobos lead the all-time series with NMSU softball, 72-49. The Aggies were on a four-game win streak over UNM until that 3-2 wake-up call in Cruces.
Beach said her Lobo bats were hot in Fort Collins, Colo., but says, “I think the New Mexico State pitchers have more command of the ball. We’ll have to show patience and hit our pitches.
“But Colorado State has a good offense, so that helps prepare us for the Aggies. We’ll need to pitch well against them and get some solid defense behind our pitchers.”
The Lobos have six hitters hitting over .290 in Jessica Garcia (.439), Kerry Hodgins (.375), Danielle Castro (.360), Kaity Ingram (.313), Stefanie Carramusa (.292) and Chelsea Anaya (.291). Garcia has eight home runs and Carramusa has seven.