The UNM women's softball team earned its first conference doubleheader sweep of the season Saturday when the Lobos defeated Brigham Young University in both games at Lobo Field.
The Lobos beat the Cougars 8-7 in the first game, and ended the day with a 6-2 victory in the second game to finish in fourth place in the Mountain West Conference with a 9-10 mark, 17-27 overall.
UNM used some much needed offensive firepower to score early runs and stave off BYU (29-21, 6-10) to take three of four games this season against the Cougars.
The Lobos are the worst offensive team in the conference, averaging only three runs a game and batting .249. But Saturday UNM pounded out 18 hits and scored 14 runs during the two-game sweep.
"This team is just gaining confidence every game at the plate," UNM head coach Susan Craig said. "They do an excellent job of getting comfortable and not trying to over-swing. We are not trying to hit home runs, we're are just trying to relax and react to pitches."
During the first game, the Lobos scored four runs in the first two innings and got two home runs by sophomore shortstop Sabrina Sandberg to survive a furious late-inning Cougar rally.
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UNM was clinging to a 5-4 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth inning when Sandberg helped the Lobos cash in on some insurance runs. She hit her second home run of the game, a towering two-run shot over the left field fence and UNM tacked on one more to bring the score to 8-4.
"I was seeing the ball really well," Sandberg said. "Being the number nine hitter, you see a lot more strikes than the other hitters. I was seeing a lot more strikes than normal and I just got a hold of a couple."
And the Lobos needed every single one of those runs because BYU battled back to score three runs in the top of the seventh and had the tying run at second base. But pitcher Hayley Punter induced a fly ball to right field for an out and the victory. Senior left fielder Cayley Warner said UNM has a knack for making games interesting in the late innings.
"It's not unusual for us to make it close at the end," Warner said. "But I wasn't nervous. I knew we could get the win."
UNM had little trouble with the Cougars early in the game, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first inning off of BYU starter Niki Andersen. Right fielder Michelle Carter doubled with two outs to drive in the first run of the game. Warner followed with a triple to the fence in right field to bring in Carter and Warner was right behind her teammate after an errant BYU throw got past the third baseman.
"We were really relaxed today," Warner said. "Our seniors were ready to go because this was our last day at home. It was nice, we had a lot of contributions from everybody."
The Lobos added a run in the second inning with the help of two Cougar errors to make the score 4-0.
BYU got back into the game with a run in the third inning and one in the fourth against Punter to close the gap to within two. After a solo home run by Sandberg in the bottom of the fourth, the Cougars extended their rally by scoring two more runs in the top of the fifth inning. BYU's Oli Keohohou and Liz Vanderlinden led off the inning with singles to center field. One out later, Brooke Cadiente doubled down the right field line to score two runs and make the score 5-4.
Chavez led the way for the Lobos, going three-for-four with two runs scored, while Sandberg went two-for-three with two runs scored and three RBIs. Punter picked up the win, going four innings, while allowing two earned runs on four hits.
Punter picked up another win in the second game when she pitched five scoreless innings. And UNM used the stellar pitching to get out in front 3-0 after five innings. BYU made another comeback with two runs in the top of the sixth, but the Lobos scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth. Kelly Glass singled with the bases loaded to drive in two runs and Carter singled to drive in another run.
The Lobos are the fourth seed in the Mountain West Conference Championship, which is May 9-11 in Provo, Utah. They play fifth-seeded BYU in the first round.
