ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – After falling in the first two games of the series, the University of New Mexico softball team rallied on Sunday to claim a 9-6 over the Nevada Wolf Pack. The Lobos improve to 19-15 on the year and 5-4 in the Mountain West.
It was the fifth inning where the Lobos really broke open their offense, scoring eight runs off nine hits.
“It was really nice for the lineup to finally make some adjustments on their pitcher,” said head coach Erica Beach. “Nevada’s Isenberg is a very good pitcher and threw very well against us on Friday. Our offense knew we needed to make adjustments and they executed those adjustments by starting to put a really good barrel on the ball and put a lot more pressure on their defense.”
The rally started with a Jade Gray single down the left field line. Doris Smith followed with an infield single and Cheyenne Smith loaded the bases with a bunt-for-base-hit with one out. Franc singled down the left field line, scoring Gray and Doris Smith to tie the game up 3-3.
The momentum sparked more offense as DeFlora reloaded the bases with a single to right. Casados shot one up the middle to score Cheyenne Smith and taking a 4-3 lead.
With just one out and the bases loaded, Chelsea Johnson unleashed a ball over the left field fence for a grand slam, giving the Lobos an 8-3 lead. With two outs, Gray came up big again with a solo shot over left field, extending the Lobos lead to 9-3.
“We needed that inning. We did some hit and runs, slap and runs during that inning to try to spark the offense a little bit and they executed that very well which fed into the next thing. With Jasmine coming up with that BB line drive she hit, that was the moment when I felt like we were ready to go.”
Nevada didn’t make things easy as the Wolf Pack answered with three runs of their own but Krissy Fortner, who came in relief in the second inning, pitched solid to finish out the game.
Due to a couple Lobo errors, the Wolf Pack was on the board early with two runs in the first. The Lobos did answer in the bottom of the second with a run, scoring on a wild pitch. Nevada plated one run in the fourth taking a 3-1 lead before the Lobos went on their rally.
Fortner claimed the victory in the circle for the Lobos, allowing four runs, two earned, off nine hits, while striking out one and walking none. She improves to 5-2 on the year.
“We were really happy with Krissy coming in and keeping them off balance. She had a lot of fly ball outs, she spins the ball so she doesn’t throw it as hard. She doesn’t usually throw so many innings but she had a great longevity today and threw well by getting ahead of batters.”
At the plate, Johnson led the Lobos with a 3-for-3 effort, one run scored and four RBIs. Gray and Doris Smith had two hits each. Franc picked up two RBIs.
The Lobos will look to build off the series finale win momentum and take that into next weekend on the road as they travel to San Diego State for Easter weekend. The series will start on Thursday, April 13 and finish up Saturday, April 15.