Softball sweep Cowgirls with offense

Written by Josiah Kaan
(jkaan@mscd.edu)
Photo by Leah Millis
(lmillis@mscd.edu)

Metro softball put their hitting on display March 7 and 8, racking up 52 total runs in four road wins at New Mexico Highlands University.

“Any time you win four on the road, it’s a pretty good weekend,” head coach Jennifer Fisher said. “This team seems to be a team that travels well together.”

As of March 7, the Roadrunners lead the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference in batting, scoring 167 runs in 185 hits with 156 runs batted in.

There were no signs of fatigue the first day of the weekend as Metro scored 30 runs, winning both games 18-2 and 12-0.

In the first game up by three, going into the top of the seventh inning, Metro sealed the game in a big way with 13 runs. Pitcher Christie Robinson threw a full game and only gave up two runs in 27 at bats.

“(Lauren) Hainlen led off the top of the seventh with a home run; then we scored twelve more runs after that,” Fisher said. “Christie Robinson pitched another great game.”

Metro continued their solid hitting in the second game of the day, scoring 10 runs in the top of the second inning, leading to a 12-0 win.

The solid hitting of the first day placed three players in the top five of two RMAC leader-board categories: runs scored (shortstop Amber Roundtree 1, center fielder Kellie Nishikida 3, second baseman Sarah Rusch 5) and home runs (third baseman Jennessa Tesone 3, Roundtree 4, first baseman Jessica Haab 5).

“We did really good offensively,” Robinson said. “We got a lot of hits and a lot of runs. As a team, I think that we just came out and came together and did really great.”

The second day of the weekend saw more of the same, as Metro’s persistent offensive production drove home 22 runs in two wins.

Metro won the first game 9-5 due to great pitching and a steady stream of runs being driven in.
Going into the top of the fourth inning up by a single run, first baseman Haab hit, what Fisher described as, “three-run bomb,” bringing home pitcher Corrie Nishikida and designated hitter Nicole Young. The Roadrunners scored another three runs in the fifth inning before holding off a late run by New Mexico Highlands with great pitching by relief pitcher Corrie Nishikida in the bottom of the sixth inning.

“I’m really happy with what we are doing,” Haab said. “We’re doing really well as a team, and we can only get better.”

The Roadrunners’ series sweep was completed in the last game of the weekend with a 13-0 shutout win, which ended in six innings because of a mercy-run rule, as Metro scored seven runs in the inning.

With the success of the weekend, Metro improved their overall record to 16-4 with a 9-1 conference record, pulling the Roadrunners into first place over Regis University in the RMAC East Division. The Roadrunners will continue conference play March 14 and 15 against Western New Mexico University at Auraria Fields.