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Softball Finishes Season with Doubleheader

Taylor JonesTaylor Jones

BOISE, Idaho — The University of New Mexico softball team finished its 2018 campaign with a pair of losses in a doubleheader at Boise State on Saturday. The Lobos dropped game one 10-1 in five innings before battling back in game two, leading until a walk-off double in the bottom of the seventh inning for a 6-5 final score.

Sophomore Cameryn O’Grady led the Lobos’ game two effort, going 3-for-4 with two RBI while scoring one run. She also had five putouts and six assists in the second matchup.

Also in the second contest, freshman Taylor Jones had a standout game, going 2-for-3 including her first career homerun and her third career double.

Other homeruns on the day included one off the bat of junior D’Andra DeFlora in game one for the solo Lobo run of the game, her seventh of the season, and one from freshman Andrea Howard, also her seventh of the season to cement the pair tied for second on the team in the category for 2018.

Game 1 – New Mexico 1, Boise State 10 – 5 Innings | BOX SCORE (PDF)

Senior Krissy Fortner claimed the loss in game one of Saturday’s doubleheader that clinched the Mountain West title for Boise State. Fortner struck out three batters while allowing nine hits and 10 earned runs in 4.0 innings. BSU’s Gianna Mancha racked up 10 strikeouts and one earned run on the homer by DeFlora a in the fourth inning.

Boise State’s offense resembled that of game one as the Broncos piled on five runs in the bottom of the first on four hits and a pair of Lobo errors to get out to a 5-0 lead.

Fortner and the Lobo defense then retired six straight batters, including a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the second, before a two-out solo homerun in the bottom of the third extended the Bronco advantage to six, followed by a pair of walks and an RBI single to left center to make it 7-0.

DeFlora got the Lobos on the board in the top of the fourth with a lead-off, solo homerun over the center-field fence, 7-1. DeFlora’s homer marked her seventh of the season and her third in the last five games.


Boise State rattled off a pair of solo homers in the bottom of the fourth to make it 10-1, a deficit the Lobos could not come back from.

The Lobos were outhit in game one 9-2 but left five runners on base, compared to two for the Broncos. The victory for Boise State clinched the Mountain West title BSU, its first in program history. The team earns the league’s automatic bid to the 2018 NCAA Regionals.

Game 2 – New Mexico 5 , Boise State 6 | BOX SCORE (PDF)

Sophomore Jensen Main registered her 29th (and final) start of the season in the circle in game two, allowing five earned runs on 13 hits while striking out four batters. She also registered her 13th complete game of the season, 18th of her career.

The Lobos started strong in the top of the first in their final game of 2018, posting two hits and loading the bases with a walk. The hits came back-to-back as junior Aleyah Wilbon singled up the middle followed by a single through the right side by O’Grady, advancing Wilbon to third. A groundout and double play to shortstop ended the inning however, stranding Lobos on the corners but demonstrating that the Lobo offense had come to play.

UNM allowed just one run in the bottom of the first inning after BSU’s Madison Anthony led off with a double and scored on a single up the middle to make it 1-0 BSU.

The Lobo offense fired up in the top of the third, scoring three runs on five hits to take a 3-1 lead. UNM batted all the way through the order, starting with a double to left center by Jones.

Howard, who went 2-for-4 in game two, followed with a single to put a pair of runners on base and, with one out, O’Grady doubled to score both to give UNM a 2-1 advantage. She advanced to third on the throw home and was followed by senior Chelsea Johnson with a hard single up the middle to score O’Grady from third and extend the Lobo lead, 3-1.


Boise State tied it back up in the bottom of the fifth with a two-out, RBI single to score BSU’s Jessica McKay, who had doubled, from second, 3-3.

With back-to-back homeruns in the top of the sixth by freshmen Jones and Howard, the Lobos jumped back out in front, 5-3, but allowed one more run in the bottom of the sixth to narrow the gap, 5-4.

Jones’ homer marked the first of her career as she now posts eight hits in her inaugural season, four of which have been extra-base hits.


The Lobos threatened to extend the lead in the seventh but failed to do so and headed into the dangerous bottom of the seventh up by just one.

The Broncos led off with two straight singles, the first scoring on the first out of the inning, a sacrifice fly to Wilbon in left, 5-5.

With two outs, BSU’s Anthony doubled to left center, her second of the game, to score the winning run from second in walk-off fashion for the 6-5 final.

Main pitched all 6.2 innings compared to three pitchers to get the win for Boise State. Offensively, the squads were nearly tied as the Lobos were outhit 13-12. UNM stranded eight runners on base compared to 10 for Boise State and both teams tallied two errors.

Boise State (40-14, 18-6 MW) will await seeding for the 2018 NCAA Tournament while Saturday’s game marks the season finale for UNM (14-39, 7-17 MW) and Coach Congleton’s first season at the helm of the Lobos.