Lobos to Face Aggies in Tuesday Doubleheader
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.– The University of New Mexico softball team will take a temporary pause in Mountain West play for a Tuesday doubleheader against New Mexico State in Las Cruces, with the first game scheduled for 4 p.m.
UNM and NMSU have met once already with the Aggies taking the first matchup 9-8 at the NM State Invitational to open the season on Feb. 9. In the back-and -forth contest, the Lobos scored two runs in the top of the first off of a D’Andra DeFlora double that scored Andrea Howard and a sacrifice fly by Bailey Klitzke that allowed DeFlora to tag. NMSU took the lead in the fifth, 6-3, and in the sixth UNM reclaimed the lead on a three-run home run by Howard that put the Lobos up 7-6. In the bottom half of the inning, NMSU went back up, 9-7, and the final run of the game was scored on a Cameryn O’Grady home run that made it 9-8.
UNM NOTES | NMSU NOTES | LIVE STATS (GAME 1 ) | LIVE STATS (GAME 2)
NEWS AND NOTES
LAST TIME OUT
UNM lost three games to Nevada over the weekend. On Friday, Lauren Wilmert hit a double to center field to score Cameryn O’Grady from first to tie the game at one before Nevada scored six runs to take the series opener. On Saturday, the Lobos hit two, three-run home runs on the bats of Andrea Howard and Wilmert and took a 6-4 lead into the top of the seventh, where the Wolf Pack scored seven to win the game. Wilmert led the team with four RBI on the weekend, going 3-for-8 with a double and a home run, as well as a team-high .875 slugging percentage. Aleyah Wilbon went 4-for-7 at the plate with a team-high on-base percentage of .571 and batting average of .571.
MIXING IT UP
The Lobos have used 28 different lineups to date, only having duplicated their lineup seven times. UNM used the same lineup in the Arizona and Alabama game, the same lineup in the Cal State Fullerton and UTEP game, the same lineup against Hawai’i on Feb. 22 and DePaul on Feb. 23 and the same lineup against Tennessee and UConn. Recently, the Lobos used the same lineup in the second game at SDSU and the second game vs. CSU, the same lineup in the first and third games against Nevada and the second game against North Dakota and the second game against Nevada.
UNM has had five different players in the leadoff spot in the lineup.Cameryn O’Grady moved into the leadoff hitter spot in the game against Canisius and played six games at the No. 1 spot in the batting order. Andrea Howard led off the lineup in 10 games and moved down to the No. 2 spot for 14 games and the seventh spot in five games. Bailey Klitzke hit in the leadoff spot in three games, D’Andra DeFlora has led off in 14 games and Sydney Townes hit first in one. Maggie Buckholz has batted second in two games, DeFlora in 12 games and Aleyah Wilbon has hit second in six. Taylor Jones hit second in the first game versus North Dakota.
Four Lobos (Cameryn O’Grady, D’Andra DeFlora, Andrea Howard and Lauren Wilmert) have started all 34 games this season, while Monica Salas has started in all but three.
UNM started four freshmen against New Mexico State, with Kennedy Ferguson, Daryn Haslam, MacKenzie Peterson and Leslie Romero each getting their first collegiate starts. Freshman Emma Steltzer made her Lobo debut in the circle in the last game of the Judi Garman Classic versus Cal State Fullerton, retiring both batters she faced.
HOT STARTS
The Lobos have scored first in 17 games this season. UNM has scored in the first inning 14 times, with a season-high four runs scored in the first inning on Feb. 16 against Illinois-Chicago and again on Feb. 22 against Canisius.
In both games against North Dakota on Tuesday and in Saturday’s game against Nevada, UNM scored three runs in the first inning.
Against WCU on March 8, the Lobos scored three runs in the first inning on a walk by Andrea Howard, back-to-back doubles by Lauren Wilmert and Maggie Buckholz and a single by Monica Salas that scored Buckholz.
Five of UNM’s wins this season have come via run-rule (15-6 vs. UTEP, 8-0 vs. Creighton, 13-5 vs. Illinois-Chicago, 10-0 vs. Canisius, 10-0 vs. WCU).
D’Andra DeFlora and Cameryn O’Grady started the season on a nine-game hitting streak.
WALK IT OUT
UNM leads the MW in walks drawn to date with 135, 12 more than the second-highest team (SJSU). In the season opener against UTEP, UNM drew 16 walks alone for a season high.
Against the Miners, eight different players drew a walk, with Andrea Howard reaching base four times via a walk. Cameryn O’Grady and Lauren Wilmert each drew three walks, Maggie Buckholz two and Monica Salas, Taylor Jones, Kasey Halleen and Daryn Haslam each had one. Versus Cal State Fullerton on Feb. 15 and North Dakota on March 26, the Lobos nearly reached double digits with nine walks in each game.
Cameryn O’Grady leads the team with 22 walks, followed by Andrea Howard (20) and Maggie Buckholz (17).
LET’S GIVE THEM SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT
After eight weeks of competition for the MW teams, the Lobos lead the conference in two categories.The Lobos are first in the conference in walks (135) and in caught stealing by (9), fourth in batters struck out (142), is tied for fourth in home runs (24) and tied for fifth in triples (8) .
As a team, UNM has at least one player listed in the top 10 in the conference in eight hitting categories, three pitching categories and three fielding categories. To date, Cameryn O’Grady is in the top-10 statistically in the MW in five categories offensively. The junior is in the top 10 on-base percentage, total bases, walks, doubles and total plate appearances. O’Grady is second in the conference in walks. Lauren Wilmert is tied for fourth in caught stealing by, sixth in fielding chances, putouts and Sydney Broderick is ranked in caught stealing by. Kennedy Ferguson is ranked in batters struck out and second in innings pitched, as well as leads the league in appearances. D’Andra DeFlora ranks in the top 10 in hit-by-pitches, Bailey Klitzke is ranked in triples and sacrifice flies, and Maggie Buckholz and Andrea Howard in walks. In Mountain West play, UNM is second in walks (29), third in assists (68) and tied for first in caught stealing by (2).
NATIONALLY KNOWN
UNM is 68th in the NCAA in triples per game (0.24) and 99th in home runs per game (0.71). Bailey Klitzke is 32nd in the NCAA in sacrifice flies with three and 65th in triples per game (0.10), while Maggie Buckholz is 78th in the country in walks (0.65). O’Grady is 83rd in walks (0.65) and 101st in on-base percentage (.487).
IT’S ALL O’GRADY
Junior shortstop Cameryn O’Grady leads the team in slugging percentage (.646), hits (35), runs scored (25), total bases (62), walks (22), total plate appearances (119) and doubles (10), and tied for the team high in home runs (5). The California native is second in batting average (.365) and RBI (22).With two outs, O’Grady is 8-for-21, the second-highest success rate on the team, with five RBI coming with two outs. When it comes to success advancing runners during an at-bat, O’Grady also is second on the team at 37-for-67 (.552). O’Grady is also 12-for-21 (.571) as the leadoff batter in an inning which leads the team.
O’Grady was nearly unstoppable in the first three games of the season, going 7-for-9 at the plate (.778 batting average), registering one double, a triple and two home runs as well as a team-high seven RBI. O’Grady tallied 16 total bases, drew three walks and posted a slugging percentage of 1.778 and an on-base percentage of .833.
The junior was 2-for-2 as the leadoff hitter in an inning, 4-for-5 with runners in scoring position and 2-for-2 batting with two outs, in which she recorded two of her seven runs-batted-in. During her at-bats, O’Grady was 6-for-8 in successfully advancing runners and 5-for-7 in getting a hit with runners on base. O’Grady was a perfect 3-for-3 against Creighton, finishing just a double shy of hitting for the cycle.
In the LMU Tournament, O’Grady was a team-best .500 in batting with runners on (4-for-8), 2-for-2 as the leadoff hitter in an inning, 3-for-6 with runners in scoring position and 1-for-2 with runners on third and less than two outs as well as with two outs. The shortstop was 4-for-9 with success in advancing runners.
Last season, O’Grady led the Lobos in triples (four), doubles (12), walks (32), on-base percentage (.444) and runs scored (31) last season. She was second on the team with 43 hits, 75 total bases and 26 RBIs, and third in batting average (.301) and slugging percentage (.524). O’Grady hit just four home runs last season, which the junior reached half that in the first three games this season and matched the total with a home run against North Dakota on March 26. She surpassed that number against Nevada on March 31.
3-2, WHAT YOU GOING TO DO?
Lauren Wilmert leads the team in RBI (27), is tied in home runs (5) and is second in total bases (52) and in hits (27), and tied for second in doubles (8). The catcher/ first baseman is fourth in runs scored (18), while hitting in the cleanup spot in 29 games before hitting in the five spot in the last five games starting against North Dakota. Since moving to the five-spot, Wilmert is 5-for-12 with two doubles, a triple and a home run with three walks for a batting average of .417, a slugging percentage of 1.000 and an on-base percentage of .533. The junior is also second in sacrifice flies and hit her first career triple against North Dakota on March 26. Playing 21 games behind the plate, Wilmert has thrown out five runners attempting to steal, bringing her career total to 10.Wilmert recorded a career-high three hits against SDSU on March 17, while also recording her sixth home run of her career and tied a career-high six total bases.
WHAT ABOUT WILBON?
Batting second in the last four games, Aleyah Wilbon has gone 7-for-10 at the plate with a .700 batting average, slugging percentage and on-base percentage to lead the team in batting average and on-base percentage. Wilbon has recorded one RBI and successfully stolen one base as well. The outfielder was 3-for-3 with runners on base and 4-for-7 with bases empty, and 2-for-2 with runners in scoring position as well as with two outs. Wilbon was also 4-for-4 with success in advancing runners.
Wilbon leads the team in batting average (.500) and on-base percentage (.524) and is third in slugging percentage (.500).
NOT JUST A PITCHER
Bailey Klitzke got the ball to start the season against UTEP, but has played in 28 games either in the circle or as the DP, starting in 26. Klitzke leads the Lobos in triples (3), is third on the team in batting average (.338), RBI (19) and hits (24) and fourth in on-base percentage (.398) and slugging percentage (.465).The junior hit a triple with bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh against North Dakota on March 26 in the first game of the doubleheader to give the Lobos a walk-off 7-6 victory.
At the Judi Garman Classic, Klitzke was 2-for-2 with runners in scoring position, with two outs and with runners on third and less than two outs in the inning. The junior was 3-for-5 in success in advancing runners and 2-for-5 as the leadoff hitter in an inning. She also had a team-high four hits and three RBI in the five-game tournament, hitting .364 with a slugging percentage of .455 and on-base percentage of .467.