Open Announce

Lobos Return to Road for Series with Fresno State

by Allison Weiss

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.– The University of New Mexico softball team continues Mountain West competition back on the road with a three-game series against the Bulldogs starting with a doubleheader on Friday.

The Lobos are set to face the Bulldogs at 4 p.m. MT followed by a second game at 6:30 p.m. MT on Friday with a single game at 12 p.m. MT on Saturday. All three games will be available to watch on the Mountain West Network.

A LOOK BACK BEFORE LOOKING AHEAD
The Lobos opened up their home schedule, as well as their conference schedule, with three games against Colorado State with two of the games decided by one run.
Izabella Owen led the Lobos at the plate with five hits and a .500 batting average, with Andrea Howard recording a .900 slugging percentage and .500 on-base percentage. Howard and Cameryn O’Grady each tallied two doubles and a home run in the series with Howard having a team-high four RBI and nine total bases. Briana Martinez also hit her first home run of the season, a two-run home run in Sunday’s game.

In the circle, the Lobos used four pitchers with Kiana Spencer, Ashlyn Roberts, Talia Hannappel and Emma Guindon making two appearances. Guindon started two games with Hannappel starting the other. Spencer went 1-1 on the weekend with Guindon 0-1.

Rachael Hathoot delivered the game-winning hit in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader after battling in the box. On the 13th pitch of her at-bat in the bottom of the seventh inning, after nine foul balls and on a 3-2 count with Howard standing on second, Hathoot hit a liner down the left-field line that made it all the way to the wall and allowed Howard to score easily for the walk-off 7-6 win. The win snapped a six-game losing streak to Colorado State and a 20-game losing streak on the season.

UNM had a chance to take the series on Sunday, building an early 3-0 lead followed by a 6-3 lead but the Rams broke the 6-6 tie in the seventh with two runs. The Lobos had the bases loaded on three walks in the bottom half of the inning but couldn’t put the ball in play to bring the runs around.
ALL HAIL THE DOUBLES QUEEN
With a double in the top of the fourth inning in the March 28 game against Colorado State, senior shortstop Cameryn O’Grady took one step closer to officially being crowned the all-time leader in UNM program history. O’Grady currently ties the program record for career doubles at 48, a record held by Marianna Fenello, who played from 1998-01. O’Grady started the season tied for fourth with 43 and has five this season after finishing the shortened 2020 season with 15, the 2019 season with 16 and the 2018 season with 12.
THE RETURN OF HOME RUN HOWARD
Home run Howard made an early appearance this year as senior Andrea Howard hit a home run in three of the six games in the opening weekend, with her first home run coming in the second game of the season against No. 4 Arizona in the top of the third to tie the game at one. Her second home run came in her first at-bat in the next game against Southern Utah, and the third home run was a 2-run home run that tied the game in the bottom of the first against Seattle.
Howard hit her fourth home run of the season in the first game at Texas Tech, a two-run home run in the top of the first, leading the team with two RBI in the game.
Her fifth home run came on March 28, a two-run home run in the top of the first on a 3-0 pitch.
The senior leads the team with her five home runs, with Cameryn O’Grady accounting for three home runs and Briana Martinez with the other home run on the team.
BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE
Beyond just hitting home runs, Howard enters the series with six multple hit games and six multiple RBI games. The senior also has a six-game streak of reaching base safely and a four-game hitting streak.

The outfielder leads the team in batting average (.328), slugging percentage (.672), on-base percentage (.425), RBI (18), walks (11), doubles (six), total bases (45), home runs (five) and hits (22). The Albuquerque native is second in runs scored (eight) and is one of three players with a triple on the season.
Howard leads the Mountain West in slugging percentage and in total bases, tied for second in doubles, tied for third in home runs, sixth in hits, seventh in on-base percentage, tied for seventh in walks, and ninth in batting average.

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
The Lobos had a solid lineup returning from 2020 but needed to fill two spots in the lineup at the DP and infield position. Rachael Hathoot, who played third all of her freshman year, moved over to second and Izabella Owen took over the third base duties. At the designated player position, left-handed hitter Peyton Robinson stepped in to the role and started all six games over the opening weekend, five at DP and one in right field.

To date, Robinson has started 20 games at DP, four in the outfield and Owen has started 21 games at third, four games at first and one game at DP. This season, Robinson has been among the best hitters at the plate for the Lobos, second on the team in batting average (.276), third in slugging percentage (.310), on-base percentage (.317), and tied for third in hits (16) and total bases (18). Hitting ninth in the lineup up until the Texas series, Robinson leads the team in sacrifice bunts with three, and is a slapper who has used her speed to beat out throws to first and can stretch out outfield hits into doubles. Robinson has led off in the Lobo lineup in the last six games, hitting .250 with an on-base percentage of .318 on five hits and currently has a three-game hitting streak. Owen is fourth on the team in batting average (.229), tied for third in hits (16) and RBI (five) and fourth in slugging percentage (.257). Owen enters the weekend having reached base safely the last seven games and with a four-game hitting streak.

GOING WITH GUINDON
Newcomer Emma Guindon leads the team in appearances (16), games started (15) and innings pitched (73.1) and has thrown six complete games. The junior has a team-best 6.59 ERA and team-high 22 strikeouts with 10 looking. Guindon is responsible for the win over Southern Utah, pitching 5.0 innings and allowed three runs on six hits, striking out four batters.

SCOUTING FRESNO STATE
The Bulldogs are 17-7 on the season and 5-1 in conference play following a sweep of San Jose State and series win over Utah State. Fresno State has wins over Cal, UCSB, Sacramento State, Pacific, Cal State Fullerton, UC Davis and San Jose State and Utah State. Three of Fresno State’s losses have come to ranked opponents, then-No. 1 UCLA (7-0) and then-No. 10 Oregon (10-2 and 2-1).

Senior outfielder Kaitlyn Jennings leads the Bulldogs with 24 hits, five doubles and five triples, hitting .338 with a .592 slugging percentage and .460 on-base percentage. Senior catcher/ designated player Kelcey Carrasco has a team-high six home runs, 24 RBI and 43 total bases with Jennings closely behind at 42 total bases. Vanessa M. Hernandez holds a team-high .686 slugging percentage with 10 hits, one triple, four home runs, 14 RBI and 24 total bases, as well as a team-high 12 walks. Carrasco is third in the conference in slugging percentage and second in home runs and Jennings is fourth in on-base percentage, is tied for third in hits and leads the MW in runs scored and triples.

In the circle, Fresno State has used five pitchers, with senior RHP Hailey Dolcini serving as its ace. The four-time MW Pitcher of the Week this season, Dolcini has a 1.09 ERA with 15 appearances and 14 starts, throwing 12 complete games, with one save and six shutouts. In 83.1 innings in the circle, the RHP has allowed 53 hits but only 17 runs (13 earned) and has struck out 121 hitters compared to just 16 walks. Dariana Orme has thrown in eight games with four starts and carries a 3.12 ERA on 33.2 innings pitched. The sophomore RHP has thrown three complete games with one shutout, allowing 44 hits, 15 runs (all earned) with eight walks and 18 strikeouts. Danielle Lung has thrown 32.2 innings on eight appearances and five starts, with 29 hits, 18 runs (15 earned), 20 walks and 30 strikeouts. The junior RHP carries a 3.21 ERA and has thrown two complete games and two shutouts. Dolcini has the best ERA in the MW and the best opposing batting average (.177) with the most innings pitched. As a staff, the Bulldogs have a 2.08 ERA with 17 complete games, nine shutouts, 133 hits allowed, 55 runs (46 earned), 46 walks and 171 strikeouts.

Fresno State is first in the MW in slugging percentage (.459), runs scored (127), sac flies (nine), hit-by-pitch (24), RBI (112), total bases (269) and triples (12), tied for first in home runs (19), second in on-base percentage (.367), stolen bases (29) and hits (157) and third in batting average (.268). Defensively, the pitching staff has the best ERA in the conference, the best opposing batting average (.227), the most strikeouts and the fewest runs allowed.