In the top of the sixth, with the game tied at 4, junior pitcher Lauren Soles was all over the zone in her short relief attempt. Nevada took advantage of the righty’s wild outing, scoring three runs that eventually resulted in the Wolf Pack’s 7-4 victory at Lobo Field on Saturday.
“She was physically ready to go in, but I think mentally she needed to be a little bit more prepared,” head coach Erica Beach said. “But for the most part our pitchers pitched well.”
Although Soles only allowed one run of her own, the junior faced five batters, three of whom got on base after being hit by a pitch. In her 1/3 of an inning pitched, she also had a strikeout and allowed a walk.
UNM had trailed for the majority of Saturday afternoon’s game. Nevada’s Megan Dortch faced the Lobos for the second time in three days and, aside from a difficult fourth, she kept the Lobo offense dormant.
However, the Lobos took advantage of Dortch’s shaky bottom of the fourth by batting around and putting up four runs. With her only hit of the day, sophomore shortstop Michala Erickson collected two RBIs to help her team fight back.
“We’re pretty good at battling back,” Erickson said. “We were just trying not to press and get simple base hits. They ended up falling in their spots, and we ended up scoring four runs.”
Even after tacking on four runs to tie the game, the Lobos left the bases loaded with the opportunity to take the lead in the bottom of the fourth. Nevada’s confidence in their ace did not falter, as Dortch trotted back out in the fifth and start of the sixth. Dortch threw a total of 236 pitches in her two starts against the Lobos.
UNM didn’t muster another threat following Dortch’s departure. A walk to start off the bottom of the sixth ended Dortch’s day, and the Lobos couldn’t put another runner on the base paths.
Chase Redington came in for the Wolf Pack (12-23, 2-4 Mountain West) to collect her third save on the season, retiring all six batters she faced in just 19 pitches.
The Lobos were unable to find the offense needed to make a comeback late in Saturday’s game, but Beach said she is proud of her team’s ability to put up a fight, no matter the score or situation.
“Our team is very feisty. Very scrappy is a word I like to use a lot,” Beach said. “We really are never down and out, no matter what the score is.”
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Beach and Erickson both said the sweep would have been a nice way to end the weekend, but UNM’s conference play has been strong in its first nine games.
The Lobos are 22-16 overall and 6-3 in the first three Mountain West series. Erickson said the ability to take two games from each of the three series has done wonders for the team’s confidence.
“Even though we didn’t win today, we won the series,” Erickson said. “We’ve won three series in a row. We’re just trying to move forward still and move on to next weekend.”
Liam Cary-Eaves is the assistant sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at assistantsports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Liam_CE.
