The Nevada Wolf Pack softball team split a pair of games on Friday in the Mustang Classic at San Luis Obispo, Calif., beating Northern Illinois 8-3 and losing to Sacramento State, 9-7.
The loss to Sacramento State kept the Pack under. 500 on the season at 10-12. The Pack was last at .500 after a 3-2 win over Southern Utah left them at 9-9 on March 2.
Karlyn Jones went the distance to earn the victory against Northern Illinois. Jones allowed three runs on five hits and two walks while striking out nine. Jones is now 6-4 on the season in 13 games (seven starts) with a 4.09 earned run average.
The Pack scored five times in the second inning against the Huskies to take a 6-2 lead. Jasmine Jenkins scored on an error to tie the game at 2-2 and Sara Parsons drove in two runs with a double and Lauren Lastrapes had a RBI single in the inning.
Parsons led the Pack offense, going 3-for-3 with three RBI and two runs scored. Parsons singled in the first and also drove in a run with her second double of the game in the fourth. She was also hit by a pitch in the sixth.
Megan Fincher walked with the bases loaded in the sixth to force in the Pack's eighth and final run.
Ashley Butera, who drove in the Pack's first run in the first inning with a single, was 2-for-3.
Sacramento State jumped out to a 7-0 lead on the Pack and starting pitcher Megan Dortch with seven runs in the second inning. Dortch lasted just 1.2 innings and allowed four hits, two walks and six runs and saw her ERA balloon to 5.67 on the year.
The Wolf Pack, though, scored three runs in the third and four runs in the fourth to tie the game at 7-7 and get Dortch off the hook.
Parsons, who was 5-for-7 with six RBI in the two games on Saturday, hit a three-run homer in the third to ignite the Pack offense. Butera added a home run in the fourth to tie the game at 7-7.
Sacramento State, though, scored a run in the fourth and fifth off Pack reliever Bailey Brewers to edge the Pack. Brewer, who allowed three runs (two earned) in three innings, suffered the loss and is now 1-2.
Karly Hopkins had a double against Sacramento state and now leads the Pack with a .416 average. Parsons is now hitting .338 this year with four homers and a team-high four homers and 23 RBI. Butera is at .304 with three homers.
The Pack will play Rutgers on Saturday (11:30 a.m.) in San Luis Obispo.
