PORTALES, N.M. – The Eastern New Mexico softball team made its home debut with a bang, setting the program record for most hits in a game and tying the ENMU record for most runs as the Hounds defeated New Mexico Highlands 28-6 in five innings on a windy Monday afternoon at Greyhound Field.
The second game of the scheduled doubleheader was called due to dangerous wind conditions.
Senior pitcher Hanna Gary struck out the side in the top of the first inning to give the Greyhounds the early momentum heading into their half-inning.
In the bottom of the frame, the Hounds started off hot with the first five batters reaching base. Parker Smith and Iliana Mendoza each singled and stole a base, setting up runners at second and third for Jennifer McElroy’s RBI single up the middle to put the Hounds on the board first.
Emma Gary followed suit with an RBI single up the middle as well to make it 2-0 before Elysia Rodriguez crushed a three-run homer down the left field line to make it a 5-0 Hounds advantage without a single out. Later in the inning, Lauren Likes knocked a two-run homer to right to stretch the Eastern edge to seven.
The Cowgirls managed to get their first two baserunners to lead off the top of the second and scored their first run, but Hanna Gary was able to induce three straight groundouts to limit the damage to just one run.
In the bottom of the second, Hanna’s twin sister Emma Gary picked up her second and third RBIs of the contest on a homer to right, setting the score at 9-1. Three batters later, Hanna Gary helped herself with an RBI single to right, scoring Haleigh Behncke to increase the Hounds lead to nine.
Likes added her fourth RBI of the contest two batters later with a single to right, scoring Karina Moreno to make it 11-1. The Hounds added four more runs on a two-RBI single by McElroy, followed by a two-run double by Emma Gary for her fourth and fifth RBIs to give Eastern a 15-1 edge after two innings of play.
After keeping the Cowgirls off the board in the third, the Greyhounds continued their hitting onslaught in half of the frame. Hanna Gary scorched a double to center to score Precious Aguirre and two batters later, Likes drove home Gary on a single to center to set the score at 17-1.
A couple batters later, Mendoza added to the hit party with a deep double to right field to send home Likes and Smith, followed by a two-run homer by McElroy that was crushed through the strong wind to left field to stretch the Eastern advantage to 21-1.
Four batters later, Hanna Gary drove in sister Emma with a single to left and Moreno closed out the Hounds scoring on an RBI double to center make it a 23-3 game after three innings.
Highlands finally mustered some offense in its top part of the fourth with three runs to cut into the Hounds large lead at 23-4. However, the Hounds retaliated with five more runs in the bottom of the sixth with the scoring spree starting on Hanna Gary’s team-leading sixth RBI off a hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded. Eastern followed with an RBI single by Rodriguez, an RBI groundout by Aguirre, a Hanna Gary RBI single and a Smith RBI single to close out the frame with a 28-4 edge.
The Cowgirls mustered three more runs in the top of the fifth, but it was too little to cut into the Hounds insurmountable lead.
The Hounds finished the game with 28 runs off of 29 hits and seven errors while the Cowgirls notched seven runs off seven hits and committed one error. The 29 hits shattered the previous school-record of 23 set in Eastern’s 28-0 win over the College of the Southwest on Feb. 6, 2008 while also tying the runs record set in the same game.
On top of the Hounds breaking multiple team records, several individuals set marks in the ENMU record books as well.
Hanna Gary went 5-for-5 with four runs scored and a pair of RBIs while Smith also went 5-for-5 with three RBIs and two runs scored. The five-hit efforts by both players tied the ENMU record with six other Greyhounds, along with teammate Samantha Brockman who recorded five hits last season against Texas A&M-Kingsville. Hanna Gary’s four-run effort
McElroy slashed 4-for-4 from the plate with a homer, five RBIs and five runs scored. Her five-run effort stands alone as the most runs scored by a single player in the history of the program.
Emma Gary recorded a 4-for-4 game with six RBIs and four runs. With six runs driven in, Gary is tied for the ninth-most RBIs in a game in ENMU history.
Hanna Gary picked up her second win of the season from the circle, pitching all five innings and giving up seven runs, just four earned, while not walking a single batter and striking out seven.
The Greyhounds will look to carry the momentum into the weekend as Eastern will be tested in their Lone Star Conference opener against the No. 6 team in the country in Angelo State. The Hounds will open the three-game series, presented by J.P. Stone Community Bank on Friday night with a 4 p.m. first pitch before challenging the Rambelles in a doubleheader slated for noon start on Saturday.
