ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— Errors proved costly for both The University of New Mexico softball team and visiting San Jose State, but it was the Lobos who fell 10-4 in the series opener on Friday night.
Junior shortstop Cameryn O’Grady and senior third baseman Monica Salas each went 2-for-3 at the plate, while senior second baseman Kasey Halleen went 1-for-2 but accounted for a team-high two RBI, the fifth time in her career that she has tallied two.
O’Grady hit her 16th double of the season in the third and added a single to center field to record UNM’s first hit of the game, while in addition recorded her 11th multiple hit game of the season and extended her on-base streak to four games.
SJSU outhit UNM 7-6 and the Spartans left five runners on base compared to three for the Lobos.
The Spartans took advantage of early free passes as Bailey Klitzke walked the first three batters before being replaced by Kennedy Ferguson in the top of the first. Ferguson was able to record the first out of the game on a strikeout, one of two in the inning for the freshman. On the next at-bat, a double to left field by Cassidy Clark plated the first two runs of the game. A two-out single to right field made it 4-0 Spartans before a fly out to Sydney Townes in right ended the inning.
UNM couldn’t get anything going in its first at-bats of the game and three errors in the top of the second broke the game open as San Jose State went on to add on five more runs.
The Lobos answered with two runs in the bottom of the second, scoring two runs on two hits and one error. DeFlora singled to left to lead off the inning and Salas followed it up with a single to right field. However, on the play the Spartan right fielder misplayed the ball, allowing the ball to roll to the wall and DeFlora to come around to score and Salas to slide safely into third. Two at-bats later, Halleen hit a sacrifice fly to center to tag Salas from third to make it 9-2.
Both teams would go on to record four scoreless innings before adding final runs in the final frame.
San Jose State tallied a leadoff single with the runner advancing to second on a throwing error by O’Grady. Two fly outs to center brought in a final Spartan run.
In the bottom of the seventh, Salas led off with a single to right and pinch hitter Daryn Haslam reached on a fielding error by the Spartan shortstop, in which Salas advanced to third on the play and Haslam moved to second on the throw to third. A grounder to shortstop by Halleen scored Salas and a MacKenzie Peterson grounder to second scored Haslam to plate the final runs of the game.
Ferguson pitched 7.0 innings and was charged with seven hits and seven runs, although only one was earned. The freshman faced 33 batters and threw 105 pitches, striking out two and walking three.
Game two of the series is set for Saturday at 4 p.m. MT.