Aggies answer with two wins for softball title
Lobo baseball is reeling, and now may be without slugger Zoellner
LAS CRUCES — Host New Mexico State won twice over Seattle University on Saturday to win the championship of the double-elimination Western Athletic Conference softball tournament and the accompanying NCAA Tournament berth.
The Aggies (29-23) did it with two stunning knockout punches: first, a four-run bottom of the seventh inning rally to nip the Redhawks 15-14 in the first game at the N.M. State Softball Complex.
Then as visiting team in the “if” game of the tournament, NMSU struck for seven runs in the top of the sixth inning for a 10-0 lead, and left two Redhawks (20-32) on base in the bottom half to enforce the gameending mercy rule.
The NCAA Division I Tournament bracket will be unveiled today at 8 p.m. on ESPN2. The Aggies will hold a public selection show party in the clubhouse at the softball complex.
Rachel Rodriguez delivered the tournament-winning hit, an RBI single to score pinch-runner Alexis Maynez in the seventh inning of Game 1.
Catcher Nikki Butler homered and drove in six runs for the Aggies.
In the second game, Samaria Diaz and Fahren Glackin combined on a four-hit shutout.
■ At UNM, the Lobos ended their season with a 4-1 loss to visiting Boise State. UNM (20-30, 6-18 Mountain West Conference) lost their last 11 games and 15 of their last 16.
UNM scored the game’s final run, which came from two of its four seniors in the fifth inning. Michala Erickson beat out an infield single with two outs and scored on Jasmine Casados’ double to right-center. Callie McGarrigle had two of UNM’s six hits, their most in the three-game series. Tess McPherson (8-14) took the loss.
BASEBALL: In Fresno, Calif., New Mexico fell to Fresno State 16-2 in league play to host Fresno State on Saturday, and the Lobos may be on the verge of an even bigger loss.
UNM (28-22-1, 18-6-1 Mountain West) trailed 13-1 through four innings to Fresno State (28-22), which goes for the three-game series sweep today at 2 p.m.
“Our pitching got hammered tonight and they pitched outstanding,” UNM coach Ray Birmingham said. “It was really as simple as that.”
It was the Lobos’ first game without senior first baseman Jack Zoellner, who was hit by a pitch Friday night and injured his left hand in a 9-3 loss.
Birmingham told the Journal on Saturday that Zoellner’s hand could be broken and he would miss the rest of the season, though UNM isn’t saying for sure until the team returns to Albuquerque and Zoellner is inspected by doctors.
Zoeller is hitting .368 with 12 home runs and 56 RBIs. With a San Diego State win at Air Force earlier Saturday, the Lobos’ magic number to clinch the conference (UNM wins or SDSU losses) and host the Mountain West tournament remains at three with four conference games remaining.
Luiz Gonzalez, today’s scheduled starting pitcher, finished 2-for-3 with a double and RBI. Johnathon Tripp picked up the loss, going 2⅔ innings and giving up six runs on eight hits with no strikeouts and a walk.
■ In Chicago, New Mexico State’s Marcel Renteria (7-2) allowed one run over six innings, and the offense came late as the Aggies (32-19, 16-4 WAC) won 10-4 over Chicago State (11-37, 7-13).
The Aggies and Chicago State wrap up their series today at 11 a.m.
TRACK AND FIELD: In Logan, Utah, Josh Kerr’s victories in the 1,500 and 800 meters paced the New Mexico men to a fourth-place finish in the Mountain West Conference Outdoor Championships. The UNM women placed ninth.
Kerr won the 1,500 for the second straight year, easing away from the field with a time of 3 minutes, 46.39 seconds. He won the 800 in 1:53.72 with a finishing kick that just caught Utah State’s Clay Lambourne at the tape.
New Mexico’s Jannell Hadnot won the MWC triple jump title for the third straight year with a leap of 42 feet, 2¼ inches. UNM’s Alice Wright won the 5,000 meters with a time of 16:17.42.
Air Force won the men’s title. San Diego State, coached by Rio Grande High School alumna Shelia Burrell, took the women’s title.