TEMPE, Ariz. – It was a late night for the Lobo softball team but the team battled to another split with a a 5-1 loss to Cal State Northridge and an exciting 6-4 extra-inning win over San Diego on Saturday night at the Kajikawa Classic in Temp, Arizona.
The day started out as a waiting game for the Lobos as the game before, between Texas and Stanford, went over by an hour and forty minutes. The first pitch of the Lobos-Cal State Northridge game was supposed to be at 6 p.m., but that pitch didn’t get into the catcher’s glove until 8 p.m., giving the Lobos a little bit of wait time.
The first game with Cal State Northridge started a little slow with the Lobos even though they were on the board in the first inning. Cal State Northridge was actually on the board first as a Lobo error gave the Matadors one run. But New Mexico responded in the bottom of the inning as sophomore Shelbie Franc walked with one out and sophomore Jasmine Casados doubled to right center to score Franc.
The Lobos’ bats were quiet the rest of the game, hitting right to Matadors. Cal State Northridge put up a run in second, third, sixth and seventh innings to cap the scoring for the game at 5-1.
“In game one, we battle hard and things didn’t go our way,” said head coach Erica Beach. “We got a lot of base runners on but had a hard time getting that clutch hit to break it open. We fought hard and our pitchers actually threw pretty well. We didn’t have a big inning. We didn’t give up a lot of runs in one inning, it was throughout the game.”
But the better story came in the latter game, a game where the Lobos could of thrown in the towel but decided to fight. And that fight paid off.
San Diego started the game off with a run in the first inning and a run in the second inning for an early 2-0 lead. The Lobos’ bats were still quiet at the plate as they were facing San Diego’s best pitcher, Paige Vonsprecken, who has just beat No. 16/16 Arizona State 5-3 the night before.
“We challenged them to make better adjustments in game two. I think they did that. Their pitcher threw really well. Our offense struggled early and really had to work hard to get the ball rolling. She threw every inning and threw quite well. Our team has been very good at coming coming from behind so I am proud about that.”
The Toreros jumped up to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning off starting pitcher Krissy Fortner but it was freshman Chelsea Johnson who opened up the scoring for New Mexico. Johnson blasted her first career homerun, a three-run homer, over the left field fence to tie the game in the sixth. She brought in Casados and junior Mariah Rimmer, who both reached base on drives up the middle.
“With Chelsea being a freshman, she is an important role for on defense as our catcher. So she is involved in every play and has a lot of responsibilities on her shoulders. She struggled at the plate early and we really had to focus on her mental toughness and her ability to bounce back. She finally started swinging at the right pitches and stopped chasing the rise ball. The kid is strong and she if she puts the barrel on the right pitch, it’s going to go along way.”
The Lobos defense and relief pitcher Lauren Soles held off the Toreros in the bottom of the sixth and seventh inning to take the game into extra innings. Extra innings meant that the game would go to a international tie breaker rule, putting a runner on second to start the inning.
“The name of the game is to get her to third base. There are a million ways to score from third. It’s a lot harder to score from second. We usually like to sacrifice that out. We try to hit the ball to the right side to advance that runner to third or we try to lay down a sacrifice bunt to make sure we get her there. Because then if we hit it to the outfield we are almost guaranteed to score, which we did. “
New Mexico used small ball strategy in the eighth inning, starting off with a sacrifice bunt by Franc that advanced senior Brandi Heimburg to third. Casados flied out to center on the next play but as the Toreros’ center fielder came up to throw, she bobbled the ball and Heimburg was able to give the Lobos a 4-3 lead heading into the bottom of the inning.
San Diego fought back with another small ball strategy, bunting the ball down to move the runner to third. The Toreros put pressure on the Lobos on the next play and an overthrow at home tied the game at 4-4.
It was the ninth inning where New Mexico really was able to get in a hitting groove. Johnson started the inning off with a single up the middle that immediately score Rimmer, who was placed at second due to the international tie breaker. Johnson reached second on the next at bat as Karissa Haleman singled to left field. The two advanced up a base as Tess McPherson flied out to right field and Johnson scored on Michala Erickson dropped third strike to cap the Lobos frame.
Soles shut down the Toreros in the bottom of the inning. She allowed one walk put runners on first and second. The Lobos got an out of the next play as San Diego bunted to advance the runners to second and third. Soles forced San Diego to pop up for the second out and struck out the last batter for her second win in two days.
“Lauren absolutely closed the game out like a champ and got us the big strikeout at the end of the game. She got super feisty and really gritty. We did not give up. We made it late in the game to tie it up but we threatened all game.”
The Lobos tallied 14 hits on the day with Johnson, Franc, Casados, Hignojos and Heimburg. Johnson collected four RBIs on the day and scored two runs. Carrie Sheehan took the loss in game one, her first of the season while Soles is now 2-0 on the season with the win in game two.
New Mexico, who is 2-2 to start the season, finishes up the Kajikawa Classic Sunday with a single game against UC Santa Barbara at 11 a.m. Live stats will not be available but follow along on Twitter (@UNMSoftball) for in-game updates.