You couldn't ask for a better Senior Day Sunday afternoon. Twenty-four Mustang hits . Fourteen of them by seniors. A grand slam. Two wins. An RMAC Western Division title. The Mustangs defeated CSU-Pueblo, 8-7 and 12-6.

 

Both teams entered the day battling for the top spot of the West Division. With the two victories on Sunday, WNMU just edged past the ThunderWolves with a 23-14 record in conference. CSU-Pueblo had a 23-16 mark. The Mustangs will be seeded No. 2 at the RMAC Tournament next weekend hosted by Metro State in Denver, Colorado.

 

In game one, the Mustangs were down 2-0 heading into the bottom of the fifth when Amy Aicher (Snohomish, WA, Snohomish High School, College of Southern Nevada) doubled to centerfield, bringing in Courtney Graf (El Paso, TX, Coronado High School) for the first run of the inning. Kortney Smith (Maricopa, AZ, Marana High School, Central Arizona Community College) then loaded the bases with a small tap that stopped at the catcher's feet. Since it was Senior Day, it was only right to allow senior Kristina Barr (San Diego, CA, La Costa Canyon High School, Central Community College) to knock the ball out of the park for a grand slam.

 

The Mustangs scored three more runs in the bottom of the sixth to go up, 8-2, but the ThunderWolves put their rally sticks together in the top of the seventh and strung together six hits for five runs after just one out. With the pressure on, WNMU made a pitching change and warmed up Emily Huhta (Albuquerque, NM, Manzano High School, Lamar Community College), who replaced Hannah Dodson (Alpine, TX, Alpine High School, Odessa College). Huhta caught the first batter staring at the ball zoom by, and she then struck out the second easily to end the game.

 

Barr was 3 for 4 at the plate and brought in five runs. Aicher, Smith, and Courtney Reyes (Alamogordo, NM, Alamogordo High School) each had two hits.

 

Dodson earned the win and improves to 7-8 on the season. Huhta earned her seventh save this season.

 

The Mustangs were never really in jeopardy in game two as the ThunderWolves made some mental errors and had problems fielding the ball.

 

Knotted at 1-1 after two innings, the Mustangs broke the tie in the bottom of the third with a walked in run. Graf then posted a two-RBI single down the left field line. WNMU went up by three.

 

CSU-Pueblo scored at least one run in each of the next four innings, but they could never recover from the Mustangs' big fourth inning when five runs came across the plate.

 

Kaitlynn Barnes (Phoenix, AZ, Deer Valley High School) finished the second game with four hits. Barr connected for two and brought in four runs.

 

Arriel Smith (Oakhurst, CA, Yosemite High School) pitched four innings for the Mustangs and earned the win (8-0).