By Jonathon Schaffer — Reporter
The San Jose State women’s softball team (9-19, 5-9 MW) lost in a nail-biter to the University of New Mexico (7-35, 5-14 MW) by a score of 5-4 on Sunday, May 9.
It was the third and final game of the weekend series.
The Lobos took an early lead when senior outfielder Andrea Howard smacked a solo home run in the bottom of the first inning.
The Spartans responded quickly in the top of the second inning when freshman designated hitter Malia Luna got on base with a single. Junior third baseman Alyssa Graham moonshot a two RBI home run giving the Spartans a 2-1 lead.
Heading into the bottom third, Howard pounded her second home run of the day. Three straight base hits extended the lead 4-2.
In the fourth inning, the Spartans cut the lead to one, when sophomore center fielder Jillian Figueroa was walked and sent home on a base hit by Graham, her second RBI of the day.
New Mexico would once again respond with a single from junior left fielder Peyton Robinson that gave the Lobos a 5-3 lead.
SJSU would not go away though, freshman second baseman Ashley Rico, who came in for sophomore second baseman Jocylyn Vidal, doubled to cut the Lobos’ lead to 5-4.
Unfortunately the Spartans were unable to complete the comeback and fell short in the top of the seventh inning.
Senior pitcher Kiana Spencer was the winner for the Lobos who pitched all seven innings allowing three earned and four punchouts.
Senior pitcher Caroline Bowman threw six innings with five earned runs with only one strikeout. She was tagged with the loss.
The Spartans will now face Colorado State University for the last series of the season starting May 14 at 4:00 p.m. at the Spartan Softball Stadium.
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