UNM's softball team faced the Colorado State University Rams in a two-game series over the weekend. Both games were called early with the Lobos losing the first game 10-1 in five innings, but rallying back the next game to win 12-4 in six innings. Each game was defined by a 7-run inning that allowed the team to take over.
The Lobos had a balanced offense, but Rachel Hathoot and Ashley Archuleta each had four hits and one walk in the series. Hathoot had 5 runs batted in during the second game to help secure the victory.
The first game took place on Saturday, April 15. The game was competitive through the first four innings but in the top of the fifth the team had three errors that ended up costing them the game.
The starting pitcher for the Lobos was Taylor Snow who pitched four innings. Snow gave up nine hits but only 4 earned runs.
The Rams had a 3-0 lead going into the top of the fifth. After giving up a leadoff single and a throwing error, a passed ball led to the Rams scoring the first run of the inning. After loading the bases, Maya Matsubara earned a walk to score another run. A bad throw from the Lobos added to the Rams’ lead. Morgan Coleman grounded out on the next at-bat but gave her teammate enough time to score.
With the bases loaded, the Lobos were called for catcher's interference. Ashley York then singled to score two to complete the 7-run inning. The Lobos did eventually score a run in the bottom of the inning but the game was called.
The second game on Sunday, April 16 saw the Lobos earn an early lead and dominate the bottom of the third, scoring 7 runs. The Rams attempted multiple rallies, but Hathhoot hit a walk-off double to push the lead to 8 and end the game early in the sixth.
Emmalyn Brinka was the starting pitcher and earned the win. She went 4.1 innings, gave up 3 earned runs and had three strikeouts.
The score was 1-1 when Archuleta hit a single in the bottom of the third with runners on first and second to score a run and give the Lobos back the lead. Keyannah Chavez bunted to reach first and score a run. With runners on second and third, Chloe Yeatts singled to score 2. With the bases loaded, Hathhoot emptied them with a double to score 3. The 7-run inning ended with the Lobos up 8-1.
With runners on second and third, Hathoot hit another double to score 2 runners on base and force a mercy rule to end the game in the bottom of the sixth.
After the win, head coach Nicole Dickson praised her team and commented that the win was due to the team stepping up to do all of the little things.
"I'm really proud of our bounce back. I think one thing our kids did today was they really took ownership. I thought our warm ups were a lot more focused, we had better leadership from our upperclassmen and everybody did their job from top to bottom. I thought we had a quality at bat one through nine today," Dickson said.
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Archuleta scored the first run of the third inning and when asked about what was going through her mind while at bat, she said she was focused solely on the team.
"My pitchers are working hard and we worked hard all week, so I was just doing everything I can to keep us in the game," Archuleta said.
The Lobos next play in San Diego, California against the San Diego State University Aztecs on Friday, April 21.
Thomas Bulger is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @thomasbulger10
Thomas Bulger is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @thomasbulger10
