Wednesday, February 18, 2015
                                                                   
PORTALES, N.M. — Sophomore infielder Audrey Velasquez (Las Cruces, N.M./Las Cruces HS) batted .571 with a double, triple and three runs batted in over the first home doubleheader of the season for the Eastern New Mexico University softball team (7-3) to lead the Zias to a sweep of cross-state rival New Mexico Highlands (1-6), Tuesday at Zia Field. Eastern took the twinbill in dramatic fashion, with a 9-8, nine-inning walk-off win in the opener, and a last at-bat 5-4 victory in the nightcap.
 
The sweep gave ENMU five straight wins over the Cowgirls and improved the Zias to 30-22 overall in the series. The last time Eastern won at least seven of its first 10 games, was a 7-3 start to the 2008 season.
 
The Eastern New Mexico University softball team will head to Canyon, Texas, this weekend for the West Texas A&M Tournament. The Zias will start with a Friday doubleheader against Newman University, which will start at 1 p.m. MT.
 
Game 1
 
New Mexico Highlands seized a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning on a two-run blast from Destiny Navarro, but the Zias capitalized on an error in the bottom of the inning and pulled even on ground outs from Marleyna Piñon (Jr., RF, Rio Rancho, N.M./Volcano Vista HS) and Susannah Chandler (So., SS, Farmington, N.M./Piedra Vista HS). After a leadoff walk in the third, Navarro gave the lead back to the Cowgirls on a two-out RBI single, but the Zias followed with a three-run fourth inning to take a 5-3 lead. Highlands sent six batters to the plate in the fifth and tied the game on a pair of two-out singles.
 
Neither team could push a runner across the plate in the sixth or seventh innings, but both scored in the eighth, after the international tie-breaker rule went into effect. The Cowgirls grabbed the upper hand with an 8-6 lead in the top of the ninth, on a two-run, two out homer from Jessica Brink, but Eastern exploded offensively in the bottom of the inning. Eastern sent five batters to the plate with none being retired, scored on an Elizabeth  Velasquez (Sr., LF, Las Cruces, N.M./Las Cruces HS) single and won on a two-run, walk-off hit from Morgan Green (Fr., 3B, Carmichael, Calif. / Del Campo High School / Sacramento City College).
 
Aja Secheslingloff (Fr., Acampo, Calif./Lodi HS) picked up her sixth win of the season with five innings of relief. Brink tossed four innings of relief and suffered the loss with just one earned run allowed. Senior outfielder Amanda Martinez (Williamstown, N.J./Williamstown HS/El Paso CC) batted three-for-five. Navarro drove in four runs for the Cowgirls.
 
Game 2
 
New Mexico Highlands sent eight batters to the plate in the first inning and took a 2-0 lead on a single from one-out single from Brink, but Chandler fielded a ground ball off the bat of Jacquelyn Solis to register an out at home plate, to limit the damage. Elizabeth Velasquez singled with one out in the ENMU second inning, took second on a wild pitch and cut the deficit in half on a two-out double from Savannah Chavez (Sr., RF, Albuquerque, N.M./Valley HS). The Cowgirls appeared in control after plating a pair of runs in the fifth for a 4-1 lead, but the Zias closed within a run on a RBI double from Audrey Velasquez and a RBI single from Chandler in the bottom of the inning.
 
Eastern had first and third base in the bottom of the third inning after Green led off with a double and Chavez followed with a single up the middle. Martinez followed with a squeeze bunt to tie the game, but an interference call in foul territory looked as if it could help the Cowgirls get out of the inning. Audrey Velasquez followed with a RBI single through the left side to give the Zias a 5-4 edge they would not relinquish. Senior pitcher Vanessa Ramirez (Lubbock, Texas/Lubbock HS) allowed one batter to reach on a walk in the seventh, but retired the side for her first win of the season.
 
Ramirez tossed 2.2 innings of hitless relief, while Michelle Brincefield suffered the loss for NMHU and allowed five runs on 14 hits. Audrey Velasquez batted three-for-four and drove in two runs, while Elizabeth Velasquez and Chavez added two hits each.