ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Mariah Rimmer hit a ball to deep left field to score Brandi Heimburg in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the University of New Mexico softball team its first-ever win over Nevada, a 4-3 walk-off win Thursday at Lobo Softball Field.
Heading into the game, the Lobos had never beat Nevada. The Wolf Pack led the all-time series 8-0 over the Lobos and claimed both series 3-0 since Nevada came into the conference in 2013, but that record changed today.
“For us, any win in conference is a good win,” said head coach Erica Beach. “We challenge the team to take the first game of the series which was a big step in the right direction for us. I am more excited about winning the first game of the series and obviously winning a game in conference. It is nice to finally break that seal in conference against this team.”
Heimburg led off the seventh with a triple to left center. The next two Lobo batters struck out swinging before Rimmer took the 1-0 pitch deep over the left fielder’s head to score Heimburg and give the Lobos the walk-off win.
“I was nervous going up to bat and that pitcher shut us down last year,” said Rimmer. “We had to redeem ourselves against her. I just got up there and took a deep breath and swung.”
I had confidence that the two before me were going to get the job done and if not, I was there to back them up”
But it took a little bit to get going as the Lobo offense started off a little slow at the beginning of the game. The Lobo defense helped out as it was solid, holding off Nevada in the first two innings.
“Our defense kept us in the game,” said head coach Erica Beach. “They would get a couple hits but our pitching and defense stepped up and made the plays when they had those runners in scoring position. Our outfielder’s threw some people out at home and you can’t ask for more than, as a coach, to have your defense step up for you like that.”
The Lobos got out of the first inning, which was a base-loaded jam, off a 1-2-3 double play. The second inning, the Lobos used the arm of Heimburg to gun down a Nevada runner at the plate to end the inning.
But Nevada started to figure out Lobo start Carrie Sheehan as the Wolf Pack plated two runs in the top of the third inning.
New Mexico matched those runs, tying the game up at 2-2 in the bottom half of the inning. The half-inning started with Gabrielle Stacey reaching first on a throwing error by third base. She then advanced to second on Heimburg’s second hit of the game, a single to left field. The two moved up on a sacrifice bunt from Michala Erickson and Stacey then scored on Jasmine Casados’ single through the left side. Rimmer hit a fielder’s choice to short on the next play that scored Heimburg and gave the Lobos a tie ball game at 2-2.
Rodrigues and the Lobo defense held off Nevada for two more innings which game the Lobo offense a chance to get ahead. The offense added one more run in the fifth as Erickson scored off Casado’s triple to right field.
Nevada tied the game at 3-3 in the top of the sixth as the Wolf Pack used a couple singles but sophomore Krissy Fortner came in to relieve Rodrigues in the seventh and got three quick outs before Rimmer put it away for the Lobos.
Fortner recorded the win in the circle to improve to 7-3 on the season which leads the team in wins. She did not allow a hit in her one inning of work.
Heimburg led the Lobos at the plate, going 3-for-4 which extended her hitting streak to 15 straight games and four straight games of getting a hit in her first at-bat of the game. She also scored two runs. Casados went 2-for-3 with two RBIs while Rimmer went 1-for-3 with the game winning hit and two RBIs. Shelbie Franc, Stacey and Erickson each had a hit.
The Lobos improve to 21-15 on the season and 5-2 in the Mountain West. They will match up with the Wolf Pack for game two of the three-game series tomorrow at 5 p.m. MT at Lobo Softball Field. A live stream will be available on GoLobos.com, as well as, live stats.