LAS VEGAS, N.M. – March 27, 2021 – Saturday started with a bang for the Chadron State College softball team, in a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference series opener at New Mexico Highlands University. The Eagles won the first game of four 9-2, but they were unable to rally hard enough in the later game, losing 4-2.

"It was great to see the team make adjustments from our previous series," said CSC Head Softball Coach Kaley Ness. "With that being said, we still need to be more consistent and execute the little things. We look forward to another opportunity against NMHU tomorrow."
 
CSC's Tia Kohl won the first game of the day in order to improve to 2-5 on the season in the pitcher's circle. She allowed six hits, but held the Cowgirls to no more than two in a single inning. In addition, she struck out five NMHU batters and walked none.
 
Eagles batters walked three times and received one base on a hit-by-pitch to start the second inning, putting one run across with two outs.  Jessie Henchenski then singled with bases loaded to give Chadron State the 3-0 lead.
 
Micah Stouffer got on with a single with one out in the third, and Ellie Owens walked, giving Mackenzi Kroll the opportunity for a three-run dinger with two outs, extending CSC's lead to 6-1 after a solo homer by NMHU's Carlee Gonzalez to lead off the bottom of the second.
 
Stouffer's solo home run leading off in the fifth made it 7-1, and Kroll got her fourth and fifth RBI of the day on another round-tripper, for the 9-1 lead.
 
A triple by the Cowgirls' Camrynn Ziegler led to her team's only other run in the game on a ground out RBI from Megan Gutierrez.
 
Samantha Gamboa, in her second start of the season, was assigned the loss after five complete innings of work. She fell to 0-2 on the season.
 
CSC pitcher Peyton Propp fought out of a bases loaded situation in the bottom of the first inning of game two, but Kroll recorded the first base hit of the game when she led off the third with a single down the left field line.
 
NMHU's Ziegler finally put a hit on the board for her team in the bottom of the third. That set up a three-run surge for the home team.  What might have been a third out turned into two RBI for Gamboa on an infield error by CSC, putting the Cowgirls up 2-0. A third unearned run crossed on an RBI single by Brooke De La Garza.
 
A pair of doubles in the fourth got NMHU to 4-0.
 
CSC had rally hopes in the seventh. Sloane Quijas was hit by a pitch, and Owens put her across the plate on an RBI single with two outs. Owens scored on an NMHU error on the following play, to get the margin back to 4-2, and Samantha Conradie represented the tying run after an Addison Spears single. However she hit into a fielder's choice putting Spears out at second.
 
Propp's record fell to 2-6 with the loss, exiting with a 3-0 deficit in the top of the fourth with five hits allowed. Nathalie Blattman earned a complete game win for the Cowgirls, improving to 3-7 and allowing only three hits.
 
Both teams are now 5-13 overall, with CSC moving to 5-9 in RMAC play, and NMHU playing all of its games in conference.
 
The series proceeds with game three at 11 a.m. Sunday.