FLC 13, WNMU 9
FLC 12, WNMU 2 (5 innings)

SILVER CITY, N.M. — What a difference a week makes. After being quieted last weekend by Colorado State-Pueblo pitching, the Fort Lewis bats got hot again yesterday, as Fort Lewis (20-15 overall, 18-8 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) swept Western New Mexico (12-27, 7-19) 13-9 and 12-2, the latter in just five innings due to the eight-run rule.

“Game one had a balanced offense from our entire team, and it was nice to see the bats come back to life,” said second-year FLC head coach Kira Zeiter, whose team scattered 15 hits including six of the extra-base variety in the opener.

But the host Mustangs were hot, too, in the opener, scoring nine runs on 16 hits through the first six innings. It took a four-run seventh frame to lift the Skyhawks to the win – and patience at the plate paid huge dividends for FLC. Reliever Bri Robles hit the leadoff batter, Destinee DeHerrera. Chelsea Rodriguez followed with a single. Kaylynn Harmon and Kamali'i Peneku each walked, with Peneku driving in a run. Robles threw a wild pitch in the next at-bat to plate Rodriguez. Robles (5-8) was removed after facing four batters and failing to record a single out, with starter Arriel Smith reentering the game at pitcher. Natalie Janes greeted her with a ground out that scored Harmon. Peneku came across on an RBI single by Stephanie Janes to account for the final run.

Katie Watkins (3-0) pitched a 1-2-3 seventh to pick up the win. The freshman worked the final two innings, allowing one run on two hits. The Skyhawks also used Alexis Villegas (two innings, four runs) and Olivia Bergman (three innings, six hits, four runs) in the circle.

Offensive heroes abounded in game one for the Skyhawks. DeHerrera went 3-for-3 with three RBI, three runs, and a solo homer in the first. Stephanie Janes went 4-for-4 with three RBI, two runs, and a 2-run blast to left center in the second. Rodriguez, who leads the nation in slugging percentage, on-base percentage, and walks, went 2-for-4 with a two-run bomb in the fourth. And Peneku was 3-for-3 with a pair of RBI and runs.

Western New Mexico's Kate Gahn went 3-for-4 with a pair of RBI and runs scored while belting a home run and a double. Aimee Vasquez was 3-for-5 with three RBI.

The nightcap was all Skyhawks, as FLC exploded for six runs in each of the first two innings and Katie Haubert (7-4) delivered a strong effort from the mound.

“We had a superb pitching performance from Katie and good patience at the plate to back that up,” Zeiter said of game two.

Haubert held to Mustangs to just two runs — coming on a first-inning round-tripper off the bat of Kaitlynn Barnes — and five hits in five innings of work.

Natalie Janes delivered a two-run single as part of a six-run first – an inning that saw FLC capitalize on three Mustang errors. Janes became FLC's career RBI leader (97) on the play, passing Jenna Peters, who drove in 95 runs from 2007-08. Janes finished the game 2-for-3 and scored two of FLC's 12 runs.

Kim McKnight (0-2) lasted just one inning for WNMU, yielding six runs (all unearned) on three hits.

Harmon and Rodriguez each had two-run doubles in the second in a six-run outburst.

Fort Lewis' two wins, coupled with a split in the four-game series between Colorado State-Pueblo and Colorado Christian this weekend, lifted the Skyhawks back into first place in the RMAC. Fort Lewis (18-8, .692) is a full game ahead of both the ThunderWolves (16-8, .667) and the Cougars (17-9, .684).

The same two teams wrap up their four-game set at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. today.