Colorado State softball started its Mountain West conference campaign strong with a hard-fought 9-5 win over UNLV.
After finishing non-conference play the weekend prior, CSU went into Friday’s game ranked last in the MW with a record of 9-14. Despite having a rough start to the season, the Rams didn’t let it discourage them going into their first in-conference matchup.
“I think in the past, we’ve always like almost gotten overly hyped for conference,” coach Jen Fisher said. “Just pretend it’s like last weekend, that’s who we’re playing. So, you know, it doesn’t really matter and just play hard, play. And I think we match up pretty well with (UNLV).”
After going down 1-0, heading into the bottom of the second inning, it was first-year Autumn Rutherford setting the tone for the Rams as she hit an absolute missile to center field propelling CSU up 3-1.
“(It was) a big moment that kind of brought the energy up at first,” Rutherford said. “(It helped) having us have that little head start, and the going into the rest of the game with that.”
After allowing UNLV to regain a 5-3 lead going into the bottom of the fourth, it was evident the Rams needed to make a push.
They did just that.
The Rams followed with a 6-0 run to end the game, and it all started after Kaylynn English got on base from a series of balls. Suddenly, UNLV defensively collapsed, giving up two of those runs in the bottom of the fourth due to multiple costly mistakes.
From there, the Rams continued to find their offensive rhythm thanks to key veteran players like seniors Carolina Buffaloe and Brooke Bohlender as both combined for three out their last six runs to end the game helping the Rams improve to 10-14 on the year.
“My hope is to just keep surprising teams,” Bohlender said. “Our preseason ranking (wasn’t) that great, so people aren’t going to expect us to be good. So, that’s one thing that we’re going to continue to surprise people (with).”
While it was Buffaloe’s and Bohlender’s leadership and timely contribution that helped the team to victory, it was the underclassmen who came up big when it mattered the most. Underclassmen like Kyra Smith and English led the way in the late game stretch having their fair share of timely RBIs to help propel the Rams lead even further.
But it all started with Rutherford’s three-run homerun in the second inning that really got this team going.
“I was really, really happy for her, and that absolutely gave us the big lift that we needed,” Fisher said. “I thought we had a really great week of preparation, and they played really, really good ball today. I think we (have) got to just keep playing with confidence. I think we tend to second guess ourselves sometimes, but we’re pretty well rounded. We’re pretty darn good.”
It was a game full of energy and excitement for the Rams. Being able to start off in-conference play with a win was huge for the team’s confidence and momentum going forward. The Rams hope to continue to surprise the MW with their hungry determination and attitude.
The Rams now focus toward replicating their success with a win in game two of the series 2 p.m. MST Saturday against UNLV.
Reach John Vu at sports@collegian.com or on X @john_vu10.
