Softball recap: Rams conclude season with victory at Nevada

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Oct 19

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Softball

vs Northern Colorado

May 9, 2015

Final Stats

RENO, Nev. -- The Colorado State softball team concluded the 2015 season on a strong note Saturday afternoon, defeating Nevada, 5-3, to win the series over the Wolf Pack.

As they did all weekend, the Rams (27-29, 8-16 MW) jumped out to an early lead, scoring a first-inning run via a Haley Hutton leadoff single, Haley David sacrifice bunt, Shae Rodriguez bunt single and a Nevada throwing error. The Wolf Pack (16-37, 6-18 MW) got the run back in the second inning, though, taking advantage of a leadoff walk.

The game wouldn't be tied for long, as CSU went back on top in its half of the third inning. Rodriguez led off the inning with a double, and came around to score on a Taylor Hutton home run. It was the senior's second long ball of the weekend and seventh of the season.

"Taylor has been dialed in, so it was fun to see her do that in her last game of her senior year," Head Coach Jen Fisher said. "That was a no-doubter off the bat into left-center and cleared the fences by a bit. It definitely gave us big lift and helped us to knock (Mean) Dortch out of the game."

After leaving the bases loaded in the second and two on in the fourth, the Rams plated two more in the fifth to take control of the game. Danielle Wikre led off with a single down the left-field line, advanced to second on a Taylor Hutton walk and to third with a one-out walk by Savannah Clark. Starting pitcher Holly Reinke followed with a double to left-center to plate Wikre and Hutton. It was Reinke's second double in as many innings, who also tossed four-plus innings in the circle to pick up her 12th win.

"It was exciting to see Holly's bat come through like that," Fisher said. "She got a couple of clutch RBIs and those were big for us, because it kept us in the lead. I think she's been really focused on offense and she hasn't gotten a lot of opportunities this year, but she's really made the most of them in the past month or so."

Following back-to-back hits to begin the bottom of the fifth, Fisher brought in freshman Logan Losh to relieve Reinke. Losh wouldn't allow a base runner, but a wild pitch and groundout allowed both runners to score to cut the Rams' lead to 5-3.

Losh was perfect over the final two frames, though, striking out one and not allowing a base runner to earn her first career save. CSU out-hit Nevada, 9-6, with Reinke and Rodriguez collecting two apiece.

"It was fun to see Holly work through a couple of walks, but she kept working herself out of innings," Fisher said. "She got two huge strikeouts to get out of one inning that we really needed. She did a nice job keeping their hitters off balance and then when they finally got to her, I thought that Logan was a good mix and a different look that they hadn't seen all weekend."

The victory concludes CSU's 2015 season, and the careers of the Rams' five seniors. The senior class helped turn around the program, going 112-92 (.549) over four seasons. In comparison, the year prior to their arrival, CSU went 8-43.

"This year was really frustrating on all of us for the wins and losses, but I also think a key part of what we do is based around the teamwork," Fisher said. "I think our improvement in the teamwork side of things was huge this year. We feel like that's a positive moving into the direction that we need to.

"I think that's where the seniors hope their legacy lies. They taught the younger players how to work hard and to come to practice every day to prove that you have more than you thought you did. I think there's some frustration, and I think we could have performed better and executed better, but our effort was exceptional as was our teamwork. We're motivated to get right back at it with the group we have coming back. Having seven freshmen, it was difficult and there were several freshmen who contributed and that's exciting for what we have coming back, but we're going to miss those seniors a lot."

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