Rams Split Opening Day at New Mexico State Invitational

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LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The Colorado State softball team kicked off its season with a double header Friday afternoon at the New Mexico State Invitational. The Rams opened up the day with a 3-1 win over Bradley before falling to New Mexico State, 7-4.

The day started off with a bang for Colorado State as junior transfer Molly Gates hit a home run in her first at bat as a Ram and in Colorado State's first at bat of the season. Gates would play a huge role in the Ram's offense all day as the leadoff hitter went 3-3 against Bradley. Head Coach Jen Fisher spoke to Gates' easy transition into the program and the confidence behind placing her in the leadoff spot.

"The team has felt that confidence from day one. She just jumped into the program ready to go," Fisher said. "She's a great part of our culture and were just really really happy for her in having just a good day all around."

Getting the first start in the circle this season was junior Sydney Hornbuckle. The right-hander went all seven innings for the Rams in game one, only allowing one earned run on five hits with 10 strikeouts, a new career-high for the California native.

"I think Coach Jaquish just felt really confident in Sydney coming into the day and was feeling a really good matchup for her." Fisher said. "We didn't know whether she was going to go the full distance or not, but she kept her pitch count down and kept them off balance, so it was just a really solid game from her, inning by inning, really just staying in the moment."

After Gates homered in the first, the Rams added two more runs in the fifth inning after Maya Matsubara scored Peyton Allen on a single up the middle and Danielle Serna scored Hailey Smith on a single to left-center. Allen was another top hitter for Colorado State going 2-4 from the plate against the Braves.

As a team, the Rams totaled 11 hits in 28 at bats with eight different Rams reaching base in game one.

Game two versus New Mexico State started out hot again for Colorado State as the Rams capitalized on an Aggie error in order to load the bases and leave the first frame with a 4-0 advantage. With singles from Serna, Matsubara and Brooke Bohlender, the Rams had once again established an early lead. Unfortunately for Colorado State, the first inning would be the only inning they were able to bring runs across the plate.

Freshman Giselle Bentley got the start in the circle for game two and the right-hander threw for three and one-third innings before both Jetta Nannen and Serna were called in for relief.

The Aggies added runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings as the Rams slowly watched their lead fade throughout the game, falling by a score of 7-4.

The Rams will take a lot from opening day, especially since they will have a very similar schedule of games tomorrow, playing the same two teams again in Las Cruces. Colorado State will face Bradley two more times within the tournament as well as seeing New Mexico State once more tomorrow.

"We're going to see Bradley three games, so this is just like a conference series," Fisher said. "It's a great opportunity to go through the mentality of a regular season, three game series right out of the gate."

First pitch from the New Mexico State softball complex will be at 11 a.m. against the Braves with the Rams facing off against the Aggies again at 4 p.m.

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