Young Homers Twice but Errors Prove Costly as Lobos Edged by Bears

CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif.— Taryn Young powered The University of New Mexico offense on Sunday afternoon against California, accounting for the two hits for UNM with two home runs, but errors in the fifth inning proved too costly for the Lobos to overcome as Cal came away with the 5-3 win to close out the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic.

Young is the second Lobo to hit two home runs in a game this season, joining Andrea Howard who hit two against Grand Canyon on Feb. 8.

In what was a defensive battle through the first four innings, and in a game where there were just five hits between the two teams, Cal was the first to put a run on the scoreboard in the first inning on a sacrifice fly to Howard in center, following a leadoff walk that moved to second on a passed ball and a grounder to Gavyn Shafer at second to advance the runner another base.

UNM (6-8) had a chance to answer and break the game open in the top of the fourth after Cal (9-6) put in pitcher Maggie Joseph in place of starter Chloe Romero. Cameryn O’Grady led off with a walk and on the next at-bat moved all the way around to third on two wild pitches. Briana Martinez was hit by a pitch with a full count to reach base and put runners on the corners, but Martinez stole second on the first pitch of Howard’s at-bat to put two runners in scoring position. It was the fourth stolen base for Martinez this season, going a perfect 4-for-4 in attempts.

Howard ultimately reached base on a walk to load the bases, but the Bears made a pitching change to put Romero back in, which ended the momentum for the Lobos. A double play on the next at-bat in which the third baseman fielded a ground ball, stepped on third and threw to home to tag out O’Grady and a foul out following that left both remaining runners standing on first and second and the score still 1-0 in favor of Cal.

UNM had four walks in the game with Howard accounting for two, and O’Grady and Martinez each earning their way on base with walks once. With Martinez’s walk in the first, the freshman extended her on-base streak to 14 games.

The first hit of the game for either team came in the bottom of the fourth on a single to left field by the Bears, but starting pitcher Bailey Klitzke worked around it with a fly ball to Young in right.

UNM’s first hit of the game came in the ensuing at bats in the top of the fifth, with Young getting ahold of the full count pitch and sending it over the left field wall to tie the game at one.

The tie would be broken in the bottom half of the inning, with two errors aiding Cal. The Bears had their leadoff hitter reach on a walk and a throwing error by Rachael Hathoot on a sacrifice bunt put the first two runners on. Kiana Spencer entered to replace Klitzke in the circle and the Bears attempted another sacrifice bunt, which resulted in a throwing error by Spencer. Cal scored on the error and had runners on the corners as a result. Another sacrifice bunt provided the first out of the inning, but the Bears had runners on second and third. A sacrifice fly on the following at bat scored the runner from third for the 3-1 lead and on the next at-bat, a two-run home run made it 5-1. A single up the middle chased Spencer out of the game in favor of Brianna Sanchez, who proceeded to get the Lobos out of the inning on the next at-bat on a grounder back to the pitcher.

The game would hold at that score until the top of the seventh, when with two outs, Leslie Romero kept the game going, reaching on a fielding error by the shortstop in a pinch hit appearance. Down to the last strike in the game and with a 1-2 count, Young recorded her second home run of the game on a ball to dead center, cutting the margin to two runs at 5-3. A grounder to third recorded the final out as the comeback fell short.

Klitzke took the loss in the game after pitching 4.0 innings and allowing just one hit, walking three and striking out one hitter. She was credited with three runs, but none of them were earned.

Spencer faced five batters and pitched 0.2 innings, giving up two runs on two hits, while Sanchez pitched the remaining 1.1 innings and didn’t allow a hit or a run on the four batters that she faced.

Up next for UNM is the Lobo Classic starting Friday, Feb. 28, with the Lobos hosting South Dakota, La Salle and Northern Colorado in a three-day tournament.