LAS VEGAS, Nev. – The University of New Mexico softball team took advantage of two UNLV errors and used pitching and defense to claim a 2-1 victory and its second straight Mountain West series on Sunday afternoon at Eller Media Stadium.
“This was a hard-fought, tough, gritty game,” said head coach Erica Beach. “Both teams were scrappy, both teams fought through all seven innings.”
The Lobos were on the board first for the second straight game. Brandi Heimburg led off with a single up the middle which was her third straight game leading off with a hit in the first inning. She was caught stealing third after she advanced to second on a wild pitch. With two outs, the Lobos scored Jasmine Casados off a UNLV throwing error for a 1-0 lead.
UNLV put up a run in the bottom of the inning as Garie Blando belted out her third home run of the weekend off Krissy Fortner. Fortner and the Lobos sat down three of the next four UNLV batters to end the threat, the game tied at 1-1.
Defense and pitching took the Lobos the rest of the way to victory which included a fourth inning of three fly outs to Rimmer in center field. Fortner retired nine of 12 batters to keep the Rebels scoreless until the fifth.
“Our defense absolutely kept us in this ball game. We had a great performance from all of our fielders, including our outfield. They covered a lot of ground.”
After three scoreless innings by both teams, New Mexico took a 2-1 lead over the Rebels in the fifth. Heimburg led off the inning with a hit-by-pitch and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Michala Erickson. Casados singled to second and Heimburg scored on the late errant throw by UNLV.
“We are so used to putting up a lot of runs but I think that UNLV’s Ettinger threw well today and kept us off balance. We made the most of our opportunities and that was the biggest thing.”
After the Lobos took the lead, the Lobos made a pitching change as Lisa Rodrigues came in the fifth to relieve Fortner. Rodrigues also kept UNLV off balance as she pitched to a quick three outs in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings to earn her second save of the year.
“Lisa threw as well as I have seen her throw,” said Beach. “She was hitting her spots, throwing hard and getting in good counts. That is all you can ask of a reliever. She stepped up for us big time in those big innings where UNLV was coming back in the earlier games.”
Fortner earned the win in the circle, allowing one run off just three hits. Rodrigues allowed just one hit in her 10 batters faced.
“Krissy threw well,” said Beach. “She started a little rocky but finished out strong and got her confidence up. She started throwing really big pitches.”
Heimburg led the Lobos at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a run scored. Casados, Rimmer, Shelbie Franc and Gabrielle Stacey each had the other four hits of the Lobos six.
For the weekend, the Lobos out-hit the Rebels 28-19.
With the win, the Lobos improve to 20-15 on the season which is Beach’s third 20-win season in five years and New Mexico’s 25th season with 20 wins.
With the second straight Mountain West series win, the Lobos are now 4-2 in the conference. They return to Albuquerque next weekend as they welcome in the Wolf Pack of Nevada for a three-game series. First game will be Thursday at 5 p.m. MT at Lobo Softball Field.