SILVER CITY, N.M. – Following a pair of early road trips, the Western New Mexico University softball team will get to enjoy the rest of February and first part of March at home as they open Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play this weekend against Colorado State University-Pueblo and Chadron State College.
In the first pod of the season, WNMU will play two games each against both teams, while the two teams will also play each other both days.
The Lady Mustangs will face Colorado State University-Pueblo first on Saturday at 10 a.m. The Lady ThunderWolves are 4-8 so far this season having played in the Tucson leadoff classic and West Texas A&M Woodward Invitational. They posted three wins in Tucson (Central Oklahoma, East Central (twice) and one win against Texas Woman’s.
CSU-Pueblo has a .272 batting average as a team led by a .400 average by Madison Wolfe. Moriah Turney leads in RBI with 10, while three players have hit a home run. In the circle, Lexie Martindale has logged 11.1 innings and leads the team with a 3.97 ERA. They hold a 6.75 team ERA.
Last year, WNMU split with the Lady ThunderWolves in Silver City taking the first game each day of the doubleheader, before CSU-Pueblo came back to gain the split.
WNMU will also face CSU-Pueblo on Sunday at 2 p.m.
The Lady Mustangs will face Chadron State at 2 p.m. on Saturday. The Lady Eagles are 0-12 having traveled to Florida and Texas to begin the season. Chadron State checks in with a .251 batting average led by a .393 average by Casey Polk. She also leads the team with seven RBI. They have hit two home runs as a team. In the circle, the Lady Eagles have a 10.75 ERA led by a 7.61 ERA from Tayler Hall in 26.2 innings.
Last year in Chadron, the Lady Eagles took three of four from the Lady Mustangs.
WNMU is 3-8 on the season with wins against Oklahoma Panhandle State, Mid America Nazarene and Northwest Nazarene.
The Lady Mustangs have a .278 batting average led by a .438 clip by Linzy Granger (Carlsbad, NM/Carlsbad). Thailyza Ramirez (Carlsbad, NM/Carlsbad) (.344) and Davi Martin (Silver City, NM/Silver City) (.310) are also over .300, while off the bench Mariangela Garcia (Tucson, AZ/Desert View) is hitting at a .467 average. WNMU has hit six home runs led by two from Stephanie Higgins (Escondido, CA/Mission Hills High School). She also leads the team with 12 RBI. Alicia Enriquez (Gilbert, AZ/Mesquite) adds 10 RBI.
In the circle, WNMU has a 9.41 team ERA led by a 6.59 from MaryJo Granger (Carlsbad, NM/Carlsbad). She has logged the most innings (28.2) and appearances (9). Chantel Purcella (Albuquerque, NM/Albuquerque) leads the team in wins with three, while Mikalya Austin and Breanna Aker (El Mirage, AZ/Apollo) have also seen time in the circle.
WNMU will also play Chadron State on Sunday at 10 a.m. Chadron State and CSU-Pueblo will play each other each day at 12 p.m.
