Hounds improve to 6-1 with pair of wins

CANYON, Texas – Taighen Whitzel has gotten off to quite a start this season for Eastern New Mexico University’s softball team.

The senior designated player from Carlsbad delivered a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the seventh on Friday, capping a two-run rally which lifted the Greyhounds to a 3-2 win over Fort Lewis in the West Texas A&M Invitational.

Whitzel went 2-for-4, actually lowering her batting average through seven games to .727 (16-for-22). She’s collected eight extra-base hits and driven in 13 runs.

Trailing 2-1 to a team it beat 8-0 the previous weekend in a South Central Region crossover event at Los Lunas, the Hounds (6-1) loaded the bases with no one out against Skyhawks righthander Amiee Shanks (2-1) on singles by junior pitcher Emma Southerland, senior second baseman Chanler Groves and freshman center fielder Judith Osuna. Shanks then got senior first baseman Alondra Vasquez to hit into a 1-2-3 double play, but Skyhawks junior catcher Brianna Jorgensen made a throwing error on the play to let Groves score the tying run.

Whitzel followed with her game-ending hit to the opposite field.

Southerland (3-0) threw a 132-pitch complete game, allowing six hits with two walks and three strikeouts. ENMU’s nine-hit attack also included two-hit outings from Vasquez and Groves.

ENMU scored in the second frame on the second of four errors by the Skyhawks (2-5), who took the lead in the top of the third on a two-run double by senior second baseman Kayla Stone.

ENMU was slated to take on Colorado State-Pueblo and Colorado-Colorado Springs on Saturday before finishing up today with a 10:15 a.m. (MST) rematch against Fort Lewis.

ENMU 9, Colorado-Colorado Springs 2 – Junior catcher Samantha Gutierrez knocked in five runs, including three on a third-inning home run, and the Hounds cruised past the Mountain Lions (2-4) in their first game of the weekend.

Gutierrez followed a leadoff single by Vasquez and a walk to Whitzel with her home run to left field, giving the Hounds a 5-1 lead. Senior right fielder Cecy Jurado hit an RBI double later in the inning to make it a five-run cushion.

Gutierrez added an RBI double in the fourth and a run-scoring groundout in the sixth.

Sophomore right-hander Jordan Rivera (2-0) worked 4 2/3 innings for the win, surviving six walks. She allowed both Mountain Lions runs on four hits, striking out one.

Sophomore right-hander Marissa Rodriguez threw 2 1/3 shutout innings, striking out two and allowing two hits.

ENMU pounded Colorado Springs starter Caydee Farnworth (0-2) and reliever Kailey Bond for 12 hits – eight for extra bases, including seven doubles. Whitzel went 3-for-3 with a walk and three runs scored, while Jurado was 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and Vasquez went 3-for-5 and also doubled twice.