Ferguson Shuts Out TSU; Lobos Fall to Liberty
AUSTIN, Texas— The University of New Mexico softball team had a strong showing in its opening game on Saturday against Texas Southern, with stellar pitching and timely hitting en route to an 8-0 six-inning run-rule, but the momentum didn’t carry into the second game against Liberty as late-inning runs by the Flames resulted in a 7-2 defeat for the Lobos.
Three Lobos finished with three hits with Andrea Howard leading the Lobos at the plate with a .500 batting average and a .571 on-base percentage on three hits, including one double, and Gavyn Shafer and Rachael Hathoot each hit .429 between the two games with three hits each as well.
Hathoot finished with two doubles and Shafer finished with one double and two runs batted in on the day, joining fellow freshman Briana Martinez with two runs batted in on Saturday.
Overall, nine UNM players recorded a hit with five hitting a double, while six different players were responsible for at least one run batted in. Six hitters reached base on walks, led by two from Taylor Jones.
UNM used four pitchers on the day, with Kennedy Ferguson pitching a complete game against TSU and Kiana Spencer, Brianna Sanchez and Bailey Klitzke throwing against Liberty.
GAME ONE: TEXAS SOUTHERN
Having already faced Texas Southern in its lone game on Friday, it was starting to look like déjà vu, with UNM scoring a run in the first and two runs in the fourth, a mirror image of when and how many runs Texas Southern scored the day before when the two teams met.
However, the Lobos would add a run in the fifth and explode for four runs in the sixth to run rule the Lady Tigers 8-0, paired with a complete-game shutout from sophomore pitcher Ferguson.
It was UNM’s second shutout of the season with the other coming on opening weekend against Stanford.
Ferguson delivered her best performance of the season, limiting the Lady Tigers to just two hits in the contest, recorded a season-best six strikeouts and retired the first five hitters and the last nine hitters that she faced. Texas Southern had only three batters reach base, with the other instance coming on a walk.
The two hits were the fewest allowed by the Lobos this season.
UNM on the other hand finished with nine hits and drew seven walks, scoring in all but two innings. The Lobos hit five doubles in the game, a season high, with two coming on the bat of Hathoot, a season high for the infielder.
Designated as the visitors in the neutral game, the Lobos opened the scoring in the first on a one-out double by Hathoot, who moved over to third on a grounder to third by Martinez and scored on the next at-bat on a wild pitch.
Ferguson retired the first five batters before TSU had its first runner reach base on a single up the middle. The right-hander recorded half of her strikeouts in the first three innings, with two occurring in the third inning.
After a double by Howard, a walk by Klitzke and a wild pitch that moved Howard to third didn’t result in a run in the third, UNM added two more runs in the top of the fourth.
Jones hit a one-out double to left field, her second of the season, and walks for Young and O’Grady loaded the bases, and Martinez came through with a single up the middle to score both Jones and Young to make it 3-0 in favor of the Lobos.
The Lady Tigers attempted to get a run back in the bottom half of the inning with a leadoff double, but a grounder to Hathoot and third, a strikeout and a grounder to O’Grady at shortstop kept the shutout in order.
UNM would plate another run in the fifth following a fielder’s choice by Sydney Broderick and a double to right center by Shafer that brought pinch runner Jennifer Hernandez around from first.
Following another quick inning by Ferguson in the fifth, the Lobos scored four runs in the sixth to put the game in run-rule territory.
O’Grady reached on an error by the TSU shortstop to start the inning and the UNM shortstop moved to second on the next at-bat on a wild pitch. That proved to be ideal for the Lobos as Hathoot doubled to left to score O’Grady. Martinez walked after working a full count and Howard brought in the second run of the inning on a single through the right side that allowed Hathoot to score. A sacrifice fly by Klitzke scored Martinez, recording just the first out of the inning and the third Lobo run of the frame.
Lauren Wilmert entered to pinch hit and reached on a fielding error by the third baseman, putting runners on second and third, and a two-out walk for Jones loaded the bases. Taryn Young was hit by a pitch to allow Howard to touch home plate as the Lobos ultimately scored four runs on two hits and two errors before the inning came to an end.
Ferguson returned to the circle and would retire the next three hitters to close the game and improve to 3-3 on the season. Of the 93 total pitches thrown, 62 went for strikes.
Howard went 2-for-3 in the game with one RBI and also reached base on a walk, while Hathoot hit two doubles, giving her five on the season, for one RBI and Martinez led with two RBI. Hathoot tallied her fifth multiple hit game and Howard her fourth multiple hit game of the season and Martinez recorded her fifth multiple RBI game in her rookie campaign.
GAME TWO: LIBERTY
After Liberty took and early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, the Lobos responded to tie the game in the top half of the second. The team would be held scoreless until the fifth, when the Flames broke the tie and took the lead for good. UNM would get a run back in the seventh, but Liberty would get the 7-2 win in the first of two meetings on the weekend between the two teams.
Shafer would account for two of UNM’s six hits in the game and the lone Lobo RBI, but both runs would score on her at-bat.
Hathoot, Howard, Wilmert and Young would each reach base on a hit with Wilmert recording a double for the only extra-base hit in the game for UNM.
A leadoff double by the Flames in the bottom of the first was eliminated on a fielder’s choice on the ensuing at-bat with O’Grady throwing to Hathoot at third for the out. A walk and a double steal put two runners in scoring position and a sacrifice fly scored the first run of the game. The Flames continued to put early pressure on starting pitcher Spencer, with another stolen base and a walk loading the bases. However, a fly out to Howard in center left them loaded.
UNM evened up the score in the top of the second, using a leadoff single by Howard, a sacrifice bunt by Klitzke and a single to center field by Shafer to score Howard from second.
The Lobos had their chances in the top of the third after putting the first three hitters on base following a single by Young, a fielding error by Liberty that put O’Grady on and a bunt by Hathoot, but a fly out to left and two strikeouts left them loaded and the game still tied.
Spencer retired 10 hitters in order, including two strikeouts, before allowing a leadoff single in the bottom of the fifth and ultimately before Liberty would strike again.
A sacrifice bunt and passed ball moved the leadoff runner to third and a sacrifice bunt to Spencer scored the runner. A double and a home run made it 4-1 in favor of Liberty, which would prove to be the difference in the final score.
Sanchez entered to replace Spencer with two outs and a runner on first in the fifth and would get a grounder to Jones at second to get out of the inning.
Liberty would add three more runs in the bottom of the sixth with Klitzke entering the circle to pitch the final two outs.
Down to three outs, Wilmert started off the top of the seventh with a double, the first Lobo to reach base since the third inning. On the following at-bat, Shafer hit it down the right field line to score pinch runner Hernandez from second and moved all the way to third on a throwing error by the Liberty right fielder for the final run of the game.
For the first time in 23 games, Martinez was unable to reach base, bringing an end to her on-base streak. Also seeing an end to their on-base streak was O’Grady after reaching the past 11 games.
However, Shafer extended her on-base streak to nine games and Young and Howard each extended theirs to four games.
Spencer picked up just her second loss of the season (7-2) after pitching 4.2 innings, allowing four runs (all earned) on four hits, walking four and striking out two. Sanchez pitched 0.2 innings in relief, giving up three runs (two earned) on three hits, striking out one and walking one. Klitzke finished with the final two outs and didn’t allow a hit on the two hitters she faced.
UNM (11-12) finished out the Longhorn Invitational with two games on Sunday. The Lobos will face No. 3/2 Texas at 8:30 a.m. MT followed by another game with Liberty at 11 a.m. MT. Both games will be shown on the Longhorn Network.