Box Score March 4, 2017 Box Score
ST. GEORGE, Utah - After falling to UC Santa Barbara by a score of 5-1, the Nevada women's softball team responded in its afternoon matchup by taking down Iowa State on the second day of the Red Desert Classic. With a split of Saturday's games, the Pack now sits at 11-6 on the season, heading into Sunday's final day of the event.
Pitching played a prominent role early in both games as a total of just one run was scored in the first three innings of each contest. In the Pack's opening game of the day against the Gauchos (7-10), Nevada found itself in hole after UCSB managed to score two runs in both the fourth and fifth innings to increase its lead, 5-0.
The Pack fought back in the seventh inning, with a run of its own courtesy of a double from junior Aaliyah Gibson who scored senior Raquel Martinez and trimmed the Gauchos lead to 5-1 with just one out. Nevada's bid for its second final-inning comeback in a row came up short though as UCSB took the win.
Nevada answered back its second game against the Cyclones as the Pack used a six-run sixth inning to seal the, 9-1, victory. After holding on to a, 2-1, lead in the bottom of the fifth inning, junior Erika Hansen took a pitch she liked to the opposite field and watched it soar over the left field fence for her second home run of the season to extends the Pack's lead, 3-1.
The runs didn't stop for Nevada in the fifth, as the team scratched six more runs off the scoreboard in the sixth inning. The offensive outpouring began when senior Melissa Arriaga singled to right field, which was then followed by a single from freshman Sierra Mello after Martinez bunted over Arriaga to second base.
With runners at the corners, senior Nikki Orozco collected a base-knock of her own to drive home Arriaga, giving Nevada the 5-1 lead. After the next three batters reached base to bring the Pack's advantage to 7-1, freshman Kenzi Goins used her single up the middle to bring home Gibson.
The Pack's final run of the game was courtesy of Martinez coming up to bat for the second time of the inning and driving in Hansen, where Nevada sealed the victory, 9-1. Senior McKenna Isenberg earned her seventh victory of the season after she went the distance once again, striking out eight batters in the process.
The third and final day of the Red Desert Classic takes place on Sunday with the Pack going up against host-Southern Utah at 11:30 p.m. PT.
