by Justin Goodrum
Daily Lobo
After losing two straight doubleheaders to Brigham Young and Utah, the Lobo softball team returned home for a showdown with the Rams.
Conference rival Colorado State faced UNM Sunday eager to sweep the season series after winning their home doubleheader in Fort Collins, Colo.
Colorado State pitching gave up six hits in both games but managed to prevent the Lobos from scoring any runs.
Second basemen Kristina Schmallen said the Lobos had some opportunities but didn't capitalize on them.
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Lobo pitching struggled as senior Ashley Perkins gave up five hits and two runs in just two innings during Game 1. Junior Katie Gregg came in for relief, but the Rams kept the pressure on by scoring three more runs. They won Game 1, 5-0.
Even though the Lobos managed to score two runs in the second game, featuring a 2-for-3 performance by Liz Young, they were unable to move nine base runners and struck out five times against Rams pitchers Genevieve Kelly and Jessica Strickland.
UNM head coach Kim Newbern said her team needs to improve on scoring runs if it wants to be successful during the last two home games of the season.
"We have to continue to string the hits together and push the runs across," she said. "We left nine people on base. That's a lot of runs in the last game, and I feel like in clutch situations, we've got to make sure we're really dialing in, doing what ever it takes to push those runs across."
With the 5-2 loss in Game 2, the Lobos fall to 3-9 in the Mountain West Conference.
In spite of the losses, the Lobos can still head into the MWC tournament with a winning streak.
"The conference has gone either way between every team," Schmallen said. "One hit determines the whole game. If we come out and sweep BYU and sweep Utah, it would be a good motivator for us to do good in conference."
BYU is first in the MWC standings at 9-1, while Utah is struggling (15-21, 3-9).
Newbern is paying equal attention to both teams.
"BYU is (an) extremely powerful team," she said. "That's what they live on. They're hitting over .300 as a team, and they have a ton of home runs. Utah is completely different - they're fast, and they're pitching pretty good. They're nothing flashy, but they just get it done."
Newbern said the team can build on the success it had last year.
"The Mountain West tournament is what we're going to shoot for," she said. "We played well last year there. That's obviously where we are going to get our bid if we want to go to postseason."
