A conference win over Utah on Thursday was what the UNM softball team needed to get the rudders going, right?
Nope.
Thursday's win did little for UNM as far as building momentum, and the Lobos were swept in a two-game series against BYU. UNM lost 13-4 on Friday and 10-3 on Saturday.
Lobo Katie Gilmore was a combined 2-for-4 from the plate and chipped in two RBIs and a run against the Cougars.
Gilmore said two wins against the Cougars would have given the struggling Lobos a shot in the arm.
"We would have liked to win these two here, but we'll come back and beat them in Provo," she said.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
In Saturday's game, the Lobos faced Cougars' ace Christie Zinanti, who came in with a 1.59 ERA.
Zinanti limited the Lobos to only four hits and got run support from BYU's hitters. The Cougars' Angeline Quiocho had five RBIs and was a double short of hitting for the cycle.
Despite better pitching from Lobo Danielle Castro, UNM's hitting and defense faltered. The Lobos were tagged with two errors and didn't make other plays that should have been routine outs.
"Pitchers just need to keep hitting their spots," Gilmore said. "We'll come through for them. We have been playing great defense all year and hitting all year. We just have to pick them up."
BYU jumped ahead to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first thanks to a hit and an error by the Lobos. UNM didn't stay down for long, though. Erin Brandow brought in the first run in the second followed by a third-inning RBI to tie the game, 2-2.
After two scoreless innings, the Cougars figured out Castro.
Led by Quiocho's two-run home run, the Cougars cashed in on a four-run sixth inning, giving them a 6-2 advantage.
Again in the seventh the Cougars came out swinging as Quiocho hit a two-run triple en route to another four-run inning, leading the Cougars to the final score of 10-3.
"There wasn't one part of the game that is the reason why we lost tonight," said softball head coach Ty Singleton. "It was definitely a team effort of not executing certain things at certain times, whether offensively or defensively."
On Friday, BYU set the tempo, notching five runs in the first inning and forcing Singleton to replace starting pitcher Analise Rubalcava in favor of freshman Kerry Hodgins.
The Lobos' offense was hitting above .300 entering the series, but the bats could never get going against the Cougars' pitchers. BYU held UNM to a total of 11 hits, with seven of them coming on Friday.
Hodgins had a bit more luck through five innings, holding the Cougars to only three more runs, but the Lobos could only manage to get three runs across, pulling the score to 8-3. But another five-run burst for BYU in the top of the sixth sealed a 13-4 win for the Cougars and shortened the game to six innings.
"BYU has been in the top of the conference for several years now," Singleton said. "So it's one to measure ourselves against and say, 'We're right there. If we can do a couple more things better, we can get there.'"
Softball at UNLV
Friday, 6 p.m.
Las Vegas, Nev.
