Wolf Pack Sweeps Doubleheader to Open Series

They call it a shower game. When the outcome swings so far to the other side, a team just needs to go home, wash off the result and come back fresh.

The two games Colorado State played at Rams Field against Nevada couldn't have been more diametrically opposed. The opener was a pitcher's duel, with the Wolf Pack claiming it by a 2-0 edge. The nightcap started as an offensive battle and finished with only one team still slugging away as the Pack claimed a 23-7 victory.

"I absolutely do think that's our approach. I think tomorrow's a new day," Clarissa Castillo said of the series closer on Sunday. "You come out, you play the same team that you just played. We had a fantastic game the first time, and I think, why not come out, give it our all, and take a third one."

Nevada came in with a well-earned reputation as one of the top offensive teams in the Mountain West. The Wolf Pack are the top hitting team, they slug with the best of them, and nobody steals more bases. The combination of speed and power puts pressure on a defense and most notably a pitcher.

It makes what Colorado State starter Reagan Wick did in the opener all the more impressive. She limited the opposition to the two runs, allowing just six singles while striking out five. The Runs came one at a time, in the second and third.

She approached Nevada the way she knew they would approach her.

"Just attack. Attack, attack, attack," she said. "They're going to be strong throughout the whole entire game, so just keeping them on their toes was the best opportunity. They present three slappers who are all super fast. So I mean, our ability to keep them off the bases and then along with their big home run hitter is keeping the slappers off the bases to keep her from hitting a quarter ball.

"Their slappers aren't one, two, three in the lineup. They're scattered out throughout the whole thing, so it keeps you on your toes the whole time of if you do have people on, OK, well I have a really fast runner at the plate. And so the biggest goal is to slow a runner out and then you have her on. It's definitely a mental game throughout the whole entire lineup of how you're going to throw them."

Each team had six hits in the first game, but Colorado State didn't really pose a threat until the final frame, loading the bases with two outs. It was then Nevada shortstop Haylee Engelbrecht made a diving play on a grounder up the middle, touching the bag for the final out.
Colorado State came back unfazed, scoring five runs in the first two innings to stake out an early lead. Autumn Rutherford drove in a trio of runs in the contest, with Castillo plating a pair.

Nevada answered back, then kept ringing the bell. A three-run third tied the game, then the Pack took the lead for good with five in the fourth, and the final lead change was a tough pill to swallow.

Anna Braukus, the nine-hole, doubled down the line to drive in a run, but Colorado State coach Jen Fisher challenged the call and won – it was foul. But after the delay for the review, Braukus turned on the next pitch for a two-run home run, opening up the gates.

"I think that was a time when we were just getting a little uncomfortable. We thought they were starting to maybe time Giselle (Bentley) up," Fisher said. "I'm almost not sure if we didn't get a little overly focused on that. Then we probably should have made a switch because if that is a double, we'd probably make a switch sooner. But you can't second guess it. That was a momentum shift, the home run."

Nevada would finish the game with 21 hits, seven for extra bases, including another homer from Katelyn Wetteland. It also stole 10 bases in the two-game set, which Fisher felt made her team rush defensively, leading to six errors in the second game.

Castillo doesn't think it – the reputation or the production -- impacted how the team swung the bats.

"I don't think we come into a series thinking, 'oh, we have to score X amount of runs,'" she said. "I think we come in, and we put up a fight, and we went out there, we did our best, and that's all we can ask for."

There is a lot for the team to consider coming down the stretch. Fighting for one of the six playoff spots in the conference tournament, CSU currently sits fifth. It has one more game with Nevada, then a three-game road set with Utah State, finishing with a series against conference-leading Grand Canyon.

Staying in the hunt could come down to keeping focus in the right spots.

"I think it can get to be a lot, but I think slowing the game down, we always say, trust your training, go back to your training, and so it's just trying not to put so many thoughts through your head," she said. "I think that's a good way to look at it. I think the little things are always important, so I'm trying to not go beyond that."

Another day awaits, as well as the chance to come back clean and make it different.

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