RENO, Nev. – The University of New Mexico softball team scored a run late in the seventh but it wasn’t enough as it opened up the Mountain West series with a 5-1 loss to Nevada Friday afternoon at Hixson Park.
The Lobos one run was too late as it came in the seventh inning. The offense took a while to get going as they only had three hits through the first six innings.
In the seventh, sophomore Chelsea Johnson reached on an error by Nevada’s first baseman and advanced to second. Freshman Kasey Halleen came in to pinch run for Johnson and eventually scored on a throwing error by the pitcher.
The Lobos’ hits came in the first inning as junior Michala Erickson singled to left. Senior Karissa Haleman singled through the right side in the second inning. Johnson singled to left in the fourth and the final hit of the game came in the seventh as Haleman single to right to advance Halleen to third.
But the Lobos had a tough time keeping Nevada off balance as they opened up the scoring in the second inning with a run off starter Lauren Soles. They put up three runs in the third off soles and their final run came fifth, taking a 5-0 lead over the Lobos.
Soles took the loss in the circle, allowing five runs off six hits while striking out four and walking two. She is now 3-5 on the season.
At the plate, Haleman led the Lobos with a 2-for-3 performance. She had two single to the right side of the field. Johnson and Erickson had the only other hits for the Lobos.
New Mexico drops to 17-13 on the season and 2-2 in the Mountain West conference. The Lobos will look to even the series tomorrow as they take on Nevada at 2 p.m. MT. Live stats and a live stream of the game will be available on GoLobos.com.