The New Mexico softball team (12-33, 5-11 MW) was unable to spoil the christening of San Jose State's (28-15, 12-6 MW) new field on Friday night, as the Spartans won 3-1.
The Spartans opened the scoring right away, putting a run on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first. Senior Emma Entzminger recorded the first hit of the game with an infield single, and then stole second to move into scoring position.
Fellow senior Brittany Abacherli singled off of Lobos starter Jensen Main to drive in Entzminger and give SJSU an early 1-0 lead. The Spartans continued to threaten, loading the bases with no outs, but Main was able to work her way out of the jam and limit the Spartans to just the one run.
But San Jose State broke through again in the home half of the fourth inning, adding two more runs to its tally. Alyssa Avila and Entzminger picked up back-to-back singles before Main issued a walk to Abacherli to load the bases.
SJSU's Cassidy Clark stepped to the plate and drove a single into left center, plating Avila and Entzminger to give the Spartans a 3-0 lead.
The Lobos pushed back in the seventh inning, as Andrea Howard led off with a double. Although the next two batters recorded outs, Howard was able to advance to third base and Lobo catcher Sidney Broderick singled her home in the next at-bat.
UNM elected to insert Sam Oliver to pinch-ran for Broderick. She was able to advance to second base before a ground out eventually ended the Lobos hopes of a rally, dealing them a 3-1 loss in the process.
Lobo pitcher Main took the loss for the Lobos, dropping her record to 6-17 on the year, while San Jose State's Madison Aurin picked up the win to improve to 13-11.
The series is scheduled to resume in California with game two taking place on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Cameron Goeldner is a sports beat reporter and photographer for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers men’s soccer and softball but also contributes content for baseball, basketball, football and track and field. He can be contacted at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @goeldfinger.
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