After being behind for nearly the entire game, UNM softball took control with three runs in the fifth inning to beat Eastern New Mexico University 4-2.
In the last inning, errors and hits left the bases loaded with two outs for Eastern.
Eastern’s Aurelia Sandoval singled to make it 4-2 UNM, but pitcher Kari Gutierrez held firm and got a ground out to end the game.
Some coaches might have been nervous, but head coach Erica Beach said she thought her team would get out of its rut.
“Honestly, my mind is telling me that we need to trust ourselves and just play,” she said. “We know how the girls panicked a little bit. We need to work on staying calm and not over-thinking anything.”
Gutierrez said she fought through some mind games to get the out.
“At first I was thinking way too much, then I decided to stop thinking and just throw the pitch, and we ended up coming out on top,” Gutierrez said.
Beach thought Eastern played tough, and she enjoyed the competition that it gave the Lobos.
“Eastern New Mexico played a really hard game, so we really had to work at competing with them,” Beach said.
Throughout the game, UNM failed to capitalize on runners on base, leaving eight stranded. The team also committed eight errors.
Outfielder Jessica Lujan-Dresslar said the team will be able to correct its mistakes in future practices and games.
“We just need to get back on it … and work on it in practice,” she said.
On Saturday, the Lobos played El Paso Community College, beating them twice 21-0 and 20-0.
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Beach said the team did not come out as well on Sunday.
“Today we were a little bit on our heels, so we didn’t have quite as much energy,” she said. “We had to work on some things to make sure we kept our intensity up.”
Lujan-Dresslar she said she knew the team didn’t come out fast at first.
“It was a pretty good game. We came out a little bit slow, but we got a win and that’s the most important part,” she said.
Beach said she expects the team to work on some of the mistakes that happened against Eastern.
“I think we played hard and we had the right mentality. We just needed to take care of little things on the field, because those things are what it’s going to take to beat some of the top Division I schools,” she said. “Overall, it was an average day.”
