The Washington softball team showed exactly why it’s a national powerhouse.
The undefeated, fifth-ranked Huskies swept the UNM softball team in a three-game series over the weekend at Lobo Field. Washington completed the sweep Sunday with a six-inning, 12-3 run-rule victory.
In spite of two shortened contests, head coach Erica Beach said her team competed at times.
“I definitely see places where I know we can improve and where we can get stronger as we get to conference,” she said. “But that’s what this weekend was for. We wanted to see where we stand. We wanted to see where we stack up.”
The up-and-coming Lobos came out with everything they had in Game 1 of Saturday’s doubleheader, dropping a heartbreaking 7-4 decision in extra innings Saturday. Washington run-ruled UNM 11-2 in five innings in the second leg.
Game 1 was probably the weekend’s most thrilling contest.
UNM jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of Saturday’s second inning behind the bat of center fielder Kerry Hodgins, who singled to short stop to spark the Lobos’ offense.
The Lobos gave up that lead in the fourth inning, but rallied late to tie the game at 4-4 heading into extra innings. Designated hitter Cassandra Kalapsa knocked in the game-tying run with a home run to left field.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Lobos had a runner in scoring position, but Kalapsa popped up to end the inning. After two more scoreless innings, Huskies’ center fielder Kimi Pohlman doubled to left-center for the game-winning RBI.
“I think we surprised a lot of people by taking them to extra innings,” catcher Jessica Garcia said. “They came out that next game knowing that we weren’t just going to roll over.”
Washington came into the series with one of the nation’s best batting averages at .432, but struggled against sophomore right-hand hurler Kaela DeBroeck (3-3) in the series’ first game.
DeBroeck allowed seven runs on 13 hits in nine innings of work Saturday. She also struck out five.
“We came out fighting,” DeBroeck said. “Our season can only go up from here. We’re young, and it’s early in the season. We’re only going to continue getting better and better.”
Beach said she expects great things from the team.
“We’re growing at a great rate,” she said. “We are learning from each experience. We’re staying positive and working hard, and that’s what you want to see from a young team at this point in the season.”
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