LAS VEGAS, Nev.— The University of New Mexico softball team dropped its second game of the series with UNLV with an 8-0 decision in six innings.
Going with a lineup that included five freshmen, it was the veteran players who tallied the Lobo hits. Cameryn O’Grady and Aleyah Wilbon were responsible for the only two hits of the game for UNM, the second game of the series that O’Grady has reached base on a hit.
Maggie Buckholz drew the only walk of the game by either team, but the Lobos left all three runners that reached base on first.
Neither team was able to get anything started in the first two innings with O’Grady hitting a two-out single to left field for the first hit of the game in the top of the first and a leadoff single by the Rebels that was left on first.
After giving up the leadoff single, UNM starting pitcher Kennedy Ferguson retired the next seven hitters with three strikeouts.
UNLV broke through in the third after a double by Reina Bondi allowed Kiley Harrison to score from first on a ball that fell in between Leslie Romero and Maggie Buckholz in the outfield. The throw home allowed Bondi to move from second to third on the play. An infield single on a high chopper that reached the edge of the infield allowed her to score from third and the runner to reach safely. A single to center scored the third run of the inning and a passed ball scored the fourth run of the inning.
Entering to pitch in relief, Bailey Klitzke got the Lobos out of the third inning and followed that up by striking out the side in the fourth, retiring five-straight hitters since she entered the game.
In the top of the fifth, Buckholz walked on four-straight balls for the first UNM base runner since the first inning, but the next two batters were unable to keep the inning going.
UNLV scored two runs on a double to left center after a leadoff batter reached on a hit-by-pitch and a single back up the middle in the bottom half of the fifth. A triple to right field scored the third run of the inning but a grounder to Daryn Haslam at third and a pop up to Klitzke kept the runner on third to extend the game.
Wilbon put the third Lobo runner on with a one-out hit to third for the first hit since the first inning for UNM and broke up UNLV relief pitcher Charlie Masterson’s no-hit bid in the sixth, but like in previous innings, the Lobos were unable to build on it.
The Rebels scored a run in the bottom of the sixth to end the game, following a throwing error that allowed a leadoff runner to score from second.
Ferguson pitched 2.1 innings, allowing four runs on six hits, and struck out three on 13 batters faced. Of the 43 pitches she threw, 32 went for strikes. Klitzke finished the game for the final 3.1 innings, giving up five hits and four runs, while striking out three as well. Of her 55 pitches, 40 went for strikes.
For the second-straight game, the Lobo pitchers did not allow a walk and the only free pass came on a hit-by-pitch.
UNM concludes the series and the season with a final game against UNLV on Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. MT.