ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The University of New Mexico softball team relied on offense to keep them in the game but wasn’t enough as the Lobos fell to Rutgers 9-6 on the final day of the Lobo Classic.
Lobo starter Lauren Soles struggled to get things going in the circle, walking four batters in the first inning. Only one run came across for the Scarlet Knights but head coach Erica Beach made the switch to senior Carrie Sheehan.
The Lobos offense came alive in the first scoring one run. Shelbie Franc tripled to left field and scored on Mariah Rimmer’s sacrifice fly to center field.
Rutgers capitalized on Sheehan’s pitching as it scored five runs in the second. Beach made another change to Krissy Fortner with two outs. Fortner got the final out of the inning and pitched the rest of the way for the Lobos.
The Lobos bats were quiet in the second but plated two runs in the third to cut the Rutger lead to 7-3. Gabrielle Stacey single down the left field line and Michala Erickson blasted her second home run of the weekend, her third on the season, over the left center wall. The two runs brought the score to 7-5 heading to the fourth.
The Scarlet Knights put one across in the fourth off Fortner but she answered in the next inning keeping them scoreless.
The Lobos offense answered in the bottom of the fifth with two more runs. Erickson doubled down to right field and later scored on Franc’s RBI infield single. Franc then came around on Chelsea Johnson’s single through the right side.
Heading to the sixth the Lobos were down just three runs. Rutgers put another across in the top of the inning which capped its scoring for the game.
The Lobos answered in the bottom of the inning off a sacrifice fly from Erickson to score Rodrigues to cut the Rutgers lead to 9-6.
Fortner kept the Scarlet Knights off balance in the seventh in hopes for the Lobos to get a few more runs.
Franc led off the seventh with a single but due to a drop-dead-time decided by both teams, the game ended and Rutgers went home with the win. Rutgers and the Lobos agreed on a 11:15 drop time due to the flight time of the Scarlet Knights.
The Lobos are now 12-9 on the season. This week the Lobos will make a long trip to Charleston, South Carolina. They will start the trip off with a doubleheader against Georgia Southern on Thursday and then participate in the College of Charleston Invitational Friday, Sat