A pair of New Mexico players broke records this past weekend in a series win at Boise State.
After being swept at home by UNLV, the Lobos were able to get things going offensively against the Broncos by scoring a total of 13 runs in their first two games of the series.
Sophomore designated player/catcher Chelsea Johnson hit four homeruns over the weekend, including a historic day at the plate during Friday night’s contest. Johnson went 3-for-4 with three homeruns and five RBIs. Her three homers tied a Mountain West Conference record for most homeruns in a single game.
“I’ve not seen a hitter see the ball the way she’s seeing it right now, ever,” head coach Erica Beach said in the postgame interview.
Johnson’s performance at the plate and a sixth inning solo shot by red-shirt freshman first baseman Jade Gray helped UNM win game one of the series 6-3.
“I just relaxed in the box this weekend and did my job,” Johnson said.Krissy Fortner helped UNM win game two on Saturday, with a record setting day of her own against Boise State. She now holds the UNM Softball single season save record after recording her sixth save of the year, breaking her own mark of five which she set just last season.
“She’s been just instrumental for us to come in and close games, she’s a different look than the rest of our pitchers,” Beach said.
The Lobos jumped out to a five-run lead, giving New Mexico a 7-2 advantage after six innings. Senior centerfielder Mariah Rimmer scored two runs and junior shortstop Michala Erickson had two big hits, a leadoff homerun in the fourth and a sac-fly brining Rimmer across home plate in the fifth helped ignite UNM’s offense early on.
Yet, New Mexico would allow Boise State to make things interesting in the late innings. The Broncos were able to score four runs in the sixth and seventh innings to cut the Lobos lead to one run. However, Fortner was able to get the final two outs of the contest helping UNM win 7-6.
“It was really nice to finally close out a game. It was really nice to be able to pull off one of those close ones, after we dropped two of those last weekend,” said Beach about Saturday’s game.
The Lobos were unable to get the sweep on Sunday, falling 7-5 to the Broncos in the series final. Boise State limited UNM’s offense to just three hits.
New Mexico improved to 22-21 over the weekend, and 7-10 in conference play this season after their series win at Boise State.
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“I’m really proud of this team for staying focused and still playing good softball,” Beach said.
UNM will be back at Lobo Softball Field Wednesday, May 4th to take on in-state rival NMSU. And will host SDSU this weekend for their final conference home series of the regular season on Friday, May 6th. Both games are set to start at 5 p.m.
Wally Gallart is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @wallyagallart.