Box Score vs. St. Mary’s | Box Score vs. Sacramento State | 2018 Statistics
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The Lobos got brilliant pitching from Jensen Main all day and night, and the Lobos earned a split of their first two games of the Lobo Classic. In its opener, New Mexico defeated St. Mary’s 5-2 and in the nightcap UNM lost 7-5 in extra innings and coming back from down 5-0 in the second inning.
The Lobos opened the scoring against St. Mary’s with a pair of runs in the first. Chelsea Johnson drew a two-out walk and then she scored when D’Andra DeFlora laced double that hit the right field wall on a fly and ricocheted away from the Gael’s right fielder. DeFlorda then scored on a single by Andrea Howard, who hit for the cycle over the course of her first five at bats in the two games.
UNM made it 3-0 when DeFlora led off the third with a home run, the first of two on the day for her.
St. Mary’s got one back off main in the fourth when a sacrifice fly by Hannah Chew scored Hailey Sparacino, who singled to start the inning. Aleyah Wilbon got that run back in the bottom half when she singled home Cameryn O’Grady, who hit a wall-hugging triple that was just fair inside of first.
Softball Highlights: New Mexico 5, St. Mary’s 2 #GoLobos pic.twitter.com/564G21Cl60
— New Mexico Lobos (@UNMLOBOS) March 9, 2018
At that point head coach Dr. Paula Congelton took Main out and brought in Krissy Fortner, but Fortner was off her game. After getting a pop out, she allowed two straight singles and a run scoring double to make it 5-2, and the reason isn’t wasn’t more was with first and third, UNM successfully defended a double steal attempt, getting an out at home.
After Sparacino’s double made it 5-2, Main re-entered and struck out Julia McCormack to end the inning. St. Mary’s in the seventh brough the tying run to the plate with two outs, but Main got a harmless roller to third for the final out.
In game two, the Lobos went with Alexis Ruel against Sacramento State, but she was touched for two runs in the first on a long, high-arching home run by Suzy Brookshire. In the second Zamari Hinton doubled home three runs to make it 5-0 with two outs, and Main relieved, and despite a walk and a dropped pop-up, no more runs crossed.
From there, UNM chipped away at Sacramento State’s lead. In the third inning, with runners on first and second, Howard completed her cycle on the day with a triple to right field, scoring both Wilbon and DeFlora, cutting the lead to 5-2. In the fourth, O’Grady slammed a two-run home run to cut the lead all the way to one at 5-4. However, UNM couldn’t do much in the fifth and sixth innings, getting just a walk.
Down 5-4 in the seventh, Chelsea Johnson grounded out to opening the inning. Down to its final two outs, DeFlora hammered a solo homer to center, tying the contest at 5-5. Howard walked, but nothing came of it, and the game went to extras.
With a runner placed on second, Sacramento State got a sacrifice bunt and a double to make it 6-5. An infield single shouldn’t have hurt, but O’Grady’s ill-advised throw the third went into the dugout, allowing an unearned run to score, making it 7-5.
UNM opened the eighth with a pinch runner placed on second, and but a groundout and a pop out brought O’Grady up as the tying run. When she walked, it brought up pinch hitter Taylor Jones up as the winning run. Jones fell behind 0-2 before grounding to third to end the game.
Howard was easily the hitting star, going 4-for-5, hitting all four legs of a cycle and driving in four. Main threw 12.2 inning and allowed just 10 hits and one earned run with 9 strikeouts. Main’s ERA on the day was 0.55. DeFlora also had four hits, going 4-for-7.
Notes: UNM dropped to 1-1 in extra innings … UNM went 0-1 stealing bases … Sacramento State went 2-0 on the day, UNM and St. Mary’s both went 1-1 and Howard went 0-2.