Lobos Lose Lead in Sixth, Fall 9-8 to SDSU
SAN DIEGO, Calif.— The University of New Mexico took a 7-5 lead in the top of the fourth in a back-and-forth Mountain West contest on Saturday evening at SDSU Softball Stadium and tacked on an extra run in the top of the sixth, but the SDSU Aztecs answered with four runs in the bottom of the sixth to take game two of the weekend series, 9-8.
Cameryn O’Grady was perfect at the plate, going 3-for-3 with two singles and a two-run home run, while adding a walk in her fourth plate appearance. The junior accounted for four RBI in the game, tying a career high that the shortstop set earlier this season against Creighton. O’Grady provided the spark in the top of the third with a two-run shot over the right field wall on the 10th-pitch of her at-bat that cut the Lobo deficit to one at 5-4 and gave UNM its second lead of the game on a two-run single back up the middle in the fourth.
Where Friday’s game was a defensive battle in which all the runs were scored in one inning, Saturday’s game was an offensive battle that had three lead changes.
For the second-straight game, UNM jumped out to an early lead in its first at-bats of the game, this time getting to starting pitcher Alicia Garcia from the first pitch.
D’Andra DeFlora battled back from an 0-2 count to draw a leadoff walk on an eight-pitch at-bat and O’Grady singled to center field on a 1-2 pitch to put two runners on with one out. Lauren Wilmert produced the first run of the game with a single up the middle that scored DeFlora and moved O’Grady all the way to third. Bailey Klitzke followed that up with a single to center to bring in O’Grady for the 2-0 early Lobo advantage. UNM scored two runs on three hits in its opening frame.
It was the 10th time this season that the Lobos have scored in the first inning and the 14th time that UNM has scored first.
SDSU answered with three runs in the bottom half of the inning, taking a 3-2 lead on a two out, three-run home run by Taylor Adams. Adams’ hit was the first hit of the game for SDSU. The Aztecs would add two more runs in the bottom of the second after a fielding error by Taylor Jones at second allowed a runner to score and a double down the left-field line by Molly Sturdivant that scored one, both of which were unearned. The Lobos had two errors in the inning, the other one being on O’Grady, allowing SDSU to extend its lead to 5-2 on one hit.
The Lobos showed their fight in the top of the third, with the top of the order once again coming through.
Andrea Howard drew a one-out, four-pitch walk to bring up O’Grady. The junior faced a full count and fouled off four straight pitches before connecting on the 10th pitch, sending the ball over the wall in right-center field for the two-run home run, her third of the season. Wilmert continued the offensive surge with her second single of the game and Klitzke added another four-pitch walk. The Aztecs made a move to the bullpen, bringing in MJ James to replace Garcia after 2.1 innings, in which she gave up five hits and walked three batters.
Salas reached on a fielder’s choice to put runners once again on the corners and Jones capitalized with a deep single that reached the edge of the infield, with Jones beating out the throw from the shortstop to score Wilmert from third and tie the game at five.
Kennedy Ferguson entered the game in relief of starting pitcher Kiana Spencer in the bottom of the third and although SDSU advanced a runner to second, Ferguson got out of the inning on a line out to Howard in center and a grounder to Jones at second.
UNM continued to build on its momentum in the top of the fourth, starting with a leadoff walk by Sydney Townes on a full count. DeFlora was hit on the first pitch of the at-bat to put two on with no one out and Howard moved them over with a fly out to deep center that allowed both runners to tag. O’Grady delivered with a two-run single up the middle on a 3-2 pitch that scored Townes and DeFlora to give UNM a 7-5 lead.
The Aztecs tried to cut into the lead in the bottom of the fifth with the first two hitters singling, but Ferguson shut the door, retiring the next three batters on a sacrifice bunt that moved the runners to second and third, a line out to Townes in right and a three-pitch strikeout to leave both runners stranded in scoring position.
In the top of the sixth, UNM added a run with the top of the order coming through. DeFlora reached on a fielding error by the third baseman and Howard hit a gapper in left center that brought in DeFlora from first to make it 8-5 Lobos. With O’Grady due up, the Aztecs once again went to the bullpen to bring in Marissa Moreno who walked O’Grady following a full count. However, the Lobos were unable to get anything further from the inning.
San Diego State got its leadoff hitter on in the bottom of the inning on a bunt, who then stole second. A double by Katie Byrd scored the runner and a single in the following at-bat moved her to third. Sturdivant hit a sacrifice fly to right to make it a one-run game and two at-bats later the Aztecs added the final two runs of the game on a home run to center by Shelby Thompson to give the home team the 9-8 lead.
SDSU outhit UNM 10-8 in the game, hitting .370 in the game versus .276 for the Lobos. The Aztecs left seven runners on base to six for UNM and the Aztecs scored six runs with two outs in the inning compared to one run for the Lobos.
Half of UNM’s hits came with runners in scoring position and the first four hitters in the UNM lineup (DeFlora, Howard, O’Grady and Wilmert) accounted for six of the team’s eight hits and six RBI. Klitzke and Jones tallied the two other hits and the two other runs-batted-in.
Saturday’s result was the 10th one-run game this season for UNM as well as the 10th time that the Lobos have hit a home run in a game this season, and the second game that had a final score of 9-8.
UNM used two pitchers in the game with Spencer going 2.0 innings and allowing five runs, three earned, on two hits. Ferguson was credited with the loss after pitching 4.0 innings, allowing eight hits and four runs on 20 batters faced. The freshman struck out three hitters while not issuing a walk for the second-straight game.
The Lobos (8-17, 1-1 MW) close out the series with SDSU (13-14, 1-1 MW) Sunday with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. MT/ noon PT.