Hathoot Earns Mountain West Player of the Week
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— Following a phenomenal series against San José State, University of New Mexico’s Rachael Hathoot has been named the Mountain West Player of the Week.
It is the first weekly conference honor for Hathoot and the second for the Lobos in the last three weeks, joining Cameryn O’Grady who was named on April 27.
The Albuquerque native went 6-for-8 at the plate, with three doubles and a home run as well as reaching on two walks, and finished with a 1.500 slugging percentage and .800 on-base percentage, while accounting for five runs-batted-in.
Hathoot finished the weekend with three multi-hit games, going 2-for-3 in games one and three and 2-for-2 in game two, and led the team in hits, runs-batted-in, doubles and batting average, tied for the team high in on-base percentage and was second in slugging percentage and total bases.
Additionally, Hathoot was 2-for-3 with runners in scoring position, 3-for-4 with runners on, 3-for-3 with two outs and 5-for-5 in advancing runners in the series, with four of her runs-batted-in occurring with two outs.
Hathoot established career highs in RBI (three) and total bases (five) and tied her career high in doubles in a game (two) in game two as the Lobos run-ruled SJSU 10-2 in five innings.
Even an out that the Spartans were able to get on Hathoot’s plate appearances was significant in that a flyout to right in the fourth inning of game three allowed Peyton Robinson to tag from second to third, with Robinson ultimately scoring on a double steal that proved to be the winning run in UNM’s 5-4 victory to seal the series.
More than just the stats that Hathoot produced at the plate, the infielder stepped up for the Lobos in game three and made her first collegiate appearance behind the plate, moving from second base to catcher on short notice.
Per Hathoot, she had never really caught a full game before Sunday outside of maybe in Little League, just a couple innings of high school at La Cueva High School and again in fall ball her freshman year.
In her called upon new role, Hathoot was a wall, not allowing any passed balls or wild pitches.
During Mountain West play, Hathoot has been stellar in her sophomore campaign, with a .569 slugging percentage, three home runs, 33 total bases, 15 RBI and a team-best eight doubles.
Hathoot and the Lobos close out the 2021 season on the road at Utah State with a three-game series starting with a doubleheader on Friday, May 14 at noon.