Greyhound softball team splits

LAS VEGAS, Nev. — After a pair of not-so-closes losses to open the season, the Eastern New Mexico softball team gave Hawaii-Hilo a test at the Desert Stinger Classic.

The Greyhounds, however, couldn’t quite finish off the comeback, falling 6-5 to the Vulcans (2-0) with the tying runner stranded on first base.

Eastern (1-3), however, recovered and took an 8-5 win against Cal State Monterey Bay to close out their Saturday. The Greyhounds finish their run at the Stinger 3 p.m. today against San Francisco State.

The Greyhounds had nine hits against Monterey Bay, including three two-run homers to back starter Hanna Gary. Ashley Lopez struck first to center in the second inning, and the next two came courtesy of Erikka Burke and Elena Rodriguez to left field in the third.

Gary, used in relief duty during Eastern’s two games Friday, got the starting nod and did enough to keep the Greyhounds in the game with five runs on nine hits in the complete-game victory.

The Greyhounds stayed with Hilo throughout in the early game, with Ashley Lopez homering in the second inning to offset Isabelle Meija’s three-run blast in the bottom of the first. Eastern got its other two runs on an infield error in the sixth to plate Karina Moreno and Kayla Marshall.

In the opener, the Greyhounds proved pesky to the Vulcans. Hilo took a 3-0 lead on Isabelle Meija’s three-run homer, but Lopez matched with her own three-run bomb off Hilo starter Leah Gonzales.

The Vulcans took the lead two more times — first in the second on a Mari Kawano RBI single and then for good in the fifth when pinch hitter Kacie Freudenberger doubled in the fifth. Two runs would be plated on the play, including an unearned run on a Greyhound error.

Erikka Burke singled home Elena Garcia in the fifth to knot it up briefly at 4-4, and Courtney Vigil cut the seventh-inning deficit in half with a two-out single off Gonzales.

However, Gonzales got Samantha Glover on a flyout to center, ending a game where she gave up five runs on seven hits. Leslie Reyes took the loss for ENMU, allowing six runs on six hits in five innings of work.