LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Despite out-hitting UNLV 12-6, the University of New Mexico softball team fell in the seventh inning 6-5 to the Rebels on Friday evening at Eller Media Stadium.
It was a dog fight in the end as the game was tied 5-5 but UNLV’s Garie Blando put one over the center field fence, her second on the day, in the bottom of the seventh inning to claim a walk-off victory for the Rebels, improving their record to 15-17 on the season and 1-3 in the Mountain West.
UNM fell behind early as UNLV was on the board first in the first inning as Blando put her first home run of the day over left field.
The Lobos were scoreless until the third inning when Mariah Rimmer tied the game up as she singled to the infield and Jasmine Casados advanced to home on a throw from first to third.
UNLV answered in the bottom of the inning with a run to take a 2-1 lead.
After a scoreless fourth inning for both teams, New Mexico took a 3-2 lead off a two-out rally. With two outs, Michala Erickson single to center and scored on Casados’ double to deep center. Casados then scored on Rimmer’s single to right field.
UNLV answered again and got to Lobo starter Carrie Sheehan and took advantage of miscues by the Lobo defense. The Lobos made a pitching change to Krissy Fortner but UNLV kept its rally going scoring three runs total for the inning, which were all scored as unearned runs.
The Lobos regained composure in the sixth and tied the game up for the third tie of the game. With one out, Chelsea Johnson came in to pinch hit for Lisa Rodrigues and doubled to the center wall to score Mia Hignojos, who starting the inning off with a walk. The Lobos had a base running miscue between Shelbie Franc and Chelsea Johnson, causing another out. But Franc then scored on the next play as Casados tied the game with her RBI single through the right side.
Fortner shut down UNLV in the sixth but the Lobo offense couldn’t get any clutch hitting going before UNLV’s homer in the bottom of the seventh.
Fortner took the loss in the circle, dropping her record to 4-3 on the season. She allowed one run off two hits while striking out two. Sheehan allowed five runs, two earned, off four hits, while walking two and striking out two.
Casados led the way at the dish, going 3-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored. Rimmer, Brandi Heimburg and Erickson each had two hits apiece. Karissa Haleman, Johnson and Gabrielle Stacey each had one hit.
The Lobos drop to 18-15 on the season and 2-2 in the Mountain West. UNM will meet UNLV for game two of the three-game series tomorrow at 2 p.m. MT. There will be a live stream on GoLobos.com, along with live stats. Visit the Lobos twitter (@UNMSoftball) for in-game updates.