Softball Split Saturday Action, Move to 16-2

Saturday, March 5

Las Vegas, Nev.

12:00 PM

Florida Atlantic

16-1

New Mexico State

15-7

New Mexico State

Florida Atlantic

3/5/2016 12:00:00 AM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

March 5, 2016

Final Stats

BOCA RATON, Fla. - Dazzling defense and timely hitting gave Florida Atlantic University's softball team (16-2) a 5-3 win over New Mexico State and pushed the limits against No. 7 Oregon in a 6-5 loss, on Saturday.

Game 1 Notables
• Emily Lochten hit her third home run of the tournament. Each have either tied the game or put the Owls up or have been the game winning RBI. Lochten was 3-for-3 with 3 RBI and two stolen bases.
• Carnesha Thompson's bat continues to be hot with a 2-for-3 plate performance, including two runs scored.
• Amanda Wilson started in the circle and picked up the win and moved to 4-1 on the young season.
• Kylee Hanson pitched three innings of relief. The junior retired six by strikeout and allowed just one hit in the save. Her third of the season.
• New Mexico State fell victim to nine strikeouts while no FAU batter was retired by a strikeout.

Game Changer
FAU scored a run in each of the first two innings. New Mexico State scored its three runs in the top of the third, courtesy of two home runs. NMSU's lead was short lived. In the bottom half of the third, senior third baseman Carnesha Thompson lead off the inning with a single. Lochten then took a 2-2 pitch over the left field wall, her sixth on the season and third in as many games, to put the Owls up 4-3. Melissa Martinez then doubled and was driven home by catcher Alex Miller for the game's 4-3 final. Starter Amanda Wilson and reliever Kylee Hanson worked together to close out the next four inning of scoreless ball.

Game 2 Notables
• Amanda Wilson drew the start and held No. 7 Oregon to three earned runs through 3.2 innings of work.
• Kylee Hanson relieved Wilson with two outs in the fourth. Hanson pitched 2.1 innings and surrendered three runs all in the bottom of the seventh to take the loss and fall to 7-1 on the year. She recorded five strikeout.
• Christina Martinez and Emily Lochten made outstanding catches to preserve the 5-3 lead through six innings.
• Melissa Martinez was 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored. Five other Owls recorded a hit in the game.

Game Changer
The Owls' scored two in the top of the second and three in the bottom of the third but, were held scoreless through the final four innings. FAU took a 5-3 lead into the bottom of the seventh. The Ducks lead-off hitter homered to right followed by a homer to center which tied the game. A hit batter, wild pitch and single to left ended the game.

Coaches Quote
"We played great defense and the bats came around," said Joan Joyce, FAU's head softball coach, when asked about the play of game one. "Our pitchers did a great job in the game against a great hitting New Mexico State hitting team."

About the second game:
"The defensive plays made in the second game should be on ESPN…you can't convenience the team of that now. It is hard to take right now but, we just played the No. 7 team in the country and had them beat into the seventh inning. So, we are right there with them. We can play with all those (ranked) teams."

Up Next
The Owls will face Drake at 9 a.m. pst Sunday. Live stats will be available at fausports.com. In-game updates will be available at twitter.com/fauowlssoftball.