Lobos Drop Final Susan Craig Classic Game to UCSB

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The University of New Mexico softball team dropped the final game of the Susan Craig Classic to the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos by a score of 7-2 on Sunday afternoon at Lobo Softball Field, bringing to an end a three-game win streak.

Starting at catcher, sophomore Leslie Romero led the Lobos with two hits and reached on an error in her three at-bats, drove in a run and scored a run. Cameryn O’Grady tallied another double in the sixth inning to score a run as well as drew a walk and reached base on a hit-by-pitch.

UNM had just five hits in the game on the bat of four different Lobos in Rachael Hathoot, O’Grady, Reyan Tuck and Romero.

Six different Lobos drew a walk in the game while UNM pitchers didn’t allow a single base on balls.

UCSB (4-6) got on the board in the first inning behind a leadoff bunt and a one-out double to right center that put two runners in scoring position. A sacrifice fly to Skylar Jenkins in right plated the first run of the game.

The Gauchos made it 3-0 in the top of the third with a two-run home run by Ally Nodohara, which was the final batter for starting pitcher Kennedy Ferguson. Alexis Buddenhagen entered for her first appearance in the circle as a Lobo and held UCSB scoreless for the next two innings.

UNM (5-4) had its first opportunity to score in the bottom of the third with Romero leading off the inning with a single to right field for the first hit of the afternoon for the Lobos. Consecutive walks for Hathoot and O’Grady loaded the bases with one out, but the Lobos were unable to bring a run across.

B3 | Leslie Romero connects with the first pitch she sees for the first hit of the game for UNM.#GoLobos pic.twitter.com/XoF75hFMj8

— UNM Softball (@UNMLoboSB) February 16, 2020

After Buddenhagen worked out of a situation with two runners in scoring position and one out in the top of the fourth, the Lobos produced their first run of the game.

Lauren Wilmert and Klitzke were issued walks following full-counts and a line out from Jenkins allowed pinch runner Jennifer Hernandez to move up to third. On the next at-bat, Romero hit a grounder to the shortstop, who was unable to cleanly field the ball allowing the Lobo to reach safely as Hernandez headed for home. However, the Lobos ran themselves out of further runs on the next at-bat in which Klitzke was doubled up at second on a line drive to left.

The Lobos again loaded the bases in the fifth behind a bunt single for Hathoot and back-to-back walks for Martinez and Andrea Howard with one out. All three runners however were left stranded as UCSB starting pitcher Emily Schuttish retired UNM hitters on the next two at-bats on a foul out and a strikeout. The Lobos left a total of eight runners on base.

UC Santa Barbara expanded the Lobo deficit to three at 4-1 in the top of the sixth with some aggressive baserunning, in which the runner on first ran all the way to third on a sacrifice bunt to Hathoot and was able to score on the following at-bat with a single to right field.

UNM answered with a run of its own in the bottom half of the inning, once again started by a Romero single. Tuck entered to pinch hit for Taylor Jones and hit a single to center to put two on with one out. With two outs, O’Grady hit her eighth double of the season to the corner in right field to bring Romero around to score, but the inning ended as Jones was thrown out at home trying to score from first.

The Gauchos added three more runs in the top of the seventh for the final runs of the game.

Ferguson took the loss in the outing, lasting just 2.2 innings with four hits and three earned runs. Buddenhagen threw 3.2 innings in relief allowing six hits and four runs (three earned) and Brianna Sanchez closed the game with the final 0.2 innings, not allowing a hit on the two batters that the freshman faced.

Of note, Jenkins recorded her first collegiate start on Sunday and freshmen Martinez and Hathoot extended their on-base streak to nine games. Klitzke also extended her on-base streak to seen games and O’Grady safely reached base for the fourth game in a row. O’Grady also currently has a four-game hit streak.

Additionally, with O’Grady’s double in the sixth, the Lobos have hit a double in the last six games with O’Grady accounting for at least one double in the last four. However, Sunday was also just the second time all season that the Lobos have not hit a home run, ending the streak of seven games.

Up next for the Lobos is the Mary Nutter Classic starting Thursday, Feb. 20 against UC Riverside at 4:30 p.m. MT. UNM will play a total of six games over four days, and the tournament is scheduled to be streamed on FloSoftball.