ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The University of New Mexico softball team scored three runs in two innings late in Sunday’s series finale with Colorado State, but the Rams’ bats were too much as the visitors won 16-3 in five-innings.
Shortstop Cameryn O’Grady went a perfect 2-for-2 with two doubles, and earned a walk and a RBI. O’Grady’s walk in the first was the lone walk issued to UNM. Leadoff hitter D’Andra DeFlora also had multiple hits at the plate, recording UNM’s first hit of the game in the bottom of the first with a single to left and a single to center in the fifth.
Junior Bailey Klitzke, who started in the circle and later stayed in as the designated player, went 1-for-3 in her plate appearances, tallying a RBI with a single to right in the fourth. In her seventh start at first, MacKenzie Peterson collected her first collegiate RBI in the fourth with a blooper that fell in shallow center to score Klitzke from second.
The Rams opened up the game with five runs in the top of the first off of six hits, including a two-run home run on the second at-bat of the game, before relief pitcher Kiana Spencer got out of the inning with her second strikeout.
UNM was able to get two on in the bottom of the first after a leadoff single by DeFlora and an O’Grady walk following a 10-pitch at-bat, but the Lobos left them stranded.
The Lobos broke the shutout in the bottom of the fourth, which started with an extra-base hit by O’Grady. On a 3-2 count and after seeing nine pitches in the at-bat, O’Grady put the ball in play with a shot to right, ending up on second standing up. With one out in the inning, Klitzke jumped on the first pitch that she saw and singled through the right side to score O’Grady from second for the first run of the inning. Monica Salas followed in the next at-bat with a single to left field to put two runners on board. Peterson produced the second run of the game for the Lobos with a hit to center with a 0-2 count. UNM scored two runs on four hits.
In the fifth, the top of the order strung together two hits to score a final run. DeFlora led off with a single to center field and Andrea Howard reached on a fielder’s choice in which DeFlora was thrown out at second. O’Grady notched her second extra-base hit of the game with a double to left field, scoring Howard from first.
Klitzke was credited with the loss in the contest, going 0.1 innings and giving up four hits and four runs. The Lobos used three pitchers in the game, with Spencer pitching the bulk of the game. The junior left-hander went 4.0 innings, pitching 100 total pitches and facing 28 batters. Emma Steltzer made her second appearance this season in the circle, facing three batters and pitching 10 pitches, with eight going for strikes, in 0.2 innings.
UNM returns to the Lobo Softball Field in just two days for a doubleheader against North Dakota scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.