The women's softball team entered the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference schedule with a 4-7 record.  In their home opener and conference opener on Saturday afternoon, the team split with first-year program Metro State College, 3-2 and 7-8.  The Mustangs are now 5-8.

WNMU got off to a slow start in the first game, posting one hit in the first three innings.  Meanwhile, the Metro State Roadrunners tallied two runs in the second inning after the Mustangs committed two costly errors. 

The Mustangs took the lead in the fourth after a successful at-bats.  First Kaci Lewis (Olympia, WA/Olympia High School) (Olympia, WA) singled to right field.  Then senior Cory Usher (Monterey, CA/Monterey High School) (Monterey, CA) homered to left field to drive in Lewis.  Antoinette Estrella (Glendale, AZ/Apollo High School) (Glendale, AZ) reached second after she hit the ball in to centerfield.  Finally, Valerie Villela (Chandler, AZ/Mountain Pointe High School) (Chandler, AZ) singled to send Estrella home. 

That would be all the scoring the fans would see in the first game of the doubleheader.  The Mustangs took the first game, 3-2.

Overall, Metro State registered five hits and one error.  WNMU tallied eight hits and three errors.  Estrella was perfect at the plate with two hits.  Villela also posted two hits but on four apperances at the plate.

Senior Brianne Grommon (Mesa, AZ/Mountain View High School) (Mesa, AZ) improved to an overall record of 2-3.  She fanned six batters.

The second game was a different story.  Metro State posted 13 hits, and WNMU had six, while 15 total runs were scored.

Both teams got off to a hot start, scoring three runs in the first inning.  Metro State scored off of two homers and one hit.

WNMU scored their three off of a Villela single, a Rebecca Reynolds (Benson, AZ/Benson High School) (Benson, AZ) walk , and Lewis homerun. 

The Roadrunners then scored three more runs in the fourth, but the Mustangs quickly answered in their next opportunity.  This time, though, they took a one run lead. 

In the top of the seventh, the Roadrunners needed one run to even things up, and they did just that after a Mustang error and a Jenks single to centerfield. 

WNMU tried to finish the game up in the seventh, but it was one, two, three for the Mustangs.

With a runner on third after a walk, a single, and a fielder's choice, the Roadrunners popped up a sacrifice fly to score one run in the eighth. 

Mustangs runners were on second and third with two outs and their last chance in the eighth, but Jody Clark (El Paso, TX/Irvin High School) (El Paso, TX) flied out to the shortstop to end the game.

Priscilla Garcia (Albuquerque, NM/St. Pius X High School) (Albuquerque, NM) pitched the first 3.1 innings, but Grommon recorded the loss after allowing the last two runs, despite striking out four hitters. 

Clark finished the second game with two runs batted in.  Lewis finished with three RBIs. 

The Mustangs continue play tomorrow at 11:00 a.m.

Click here for game one statistics.

Click here for game two statistics.