Longball Lobos blast past Fresno State in Mountain West Softball Tournament

MW Softball Tournament

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Thursday: No. 4 New Mexico vs. No. 1 Grand Canyon (winner’s bracket game), 4 p.m. MT (3 p.m. PT in Reno)

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Watch: TheMW.com

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Friday: Win or lose on Thursday, the Lobos will have at least one game on Friday.

RENO, Nevada — It had been 20 years since the UNM Lobos last played in the Mountain West Softball Tournament.

They weren't about to make it a one-and-done return.

Allie Williams, Ella Dawson and Jessica DeLeon all homered and the No. 4 seed Lobos blew past No. 5 Fresno State, 7-2, in Wednesday’s single-elimination first round of the Mountain West Tournament at Christina M. Hixson Softball Park.

UNM now advances to the four-team, double-elimination portion of the tournament beginning with No. 1 Grand Canyon at 4 p.m. Thursday.

On Wednesday, though, the Lobos were taking a moment to enjoy the win that was two decades in the making — their last postseason game was in 2006. It also improved UNM to 27-25 overall this season, meaning even with two more losses in the double-elimination portion of the tournament, the Lobos are guaranteed their first .500 or better season since 2015.

ALLIE WILLIAMS SENDS IT OUT OF HERE#GoLobos pic.twitter.com/d6EILl7gc0

— UNM Softball (@UNMLoboSB) May 6, 2026

"The pitch was high and in, so I said, 'I gotta take this yard,'" a celebratory Williams said in a post-game interview on TheMW.com of her two-run homer over the left-centerfield wall in the bottom of the third inning, opening the scoring for the game and putting the Lobos up 2-0.

It was the 10th home run, and 44th and 45th RBIs of the season for Williams, the sophomore more right fielder, who also had a single later in the game and her rocket arm throw from right field in the fourth prevented a run from scoring, keeping the Lobos lead at 2-1 after what appeared destined to be a game-tying, two-RBI single to right field for Fresno State's Rylee Bocchini. That was until Williams' threw a strike to DeLeon, the Lobos' catcher, keeping Mallory Vancleave on third base.

Dawson added a pinch-hit two-run home run in the bottom of the fourth for a 4-1 Lobos lead and DeLeon's two-run homer off the right field scoreboard made it 6-2.

Jasmyn Lloyd added an insurance run on an RBI pinch-hit single in the sixth.

All seven UNM runs came two-out hits — three were homers.

"They had me a little worried hacking at the rise ball the first inning," said UNM coach Nicole Orgeron of her Lobo lineup. "I thought they made good adjustments, and we capitalized whenever we got somebody on. Shout out to the pinch hitters. I mean, Ella Dawson coming in with the pinch hit home run, Jasmine Lloyd as well with the pinch hit RBI. They were ready coming in off the bench. Just really proud of our team."

In the circle, McKenna Guest allowed two earned runs in the first 4 2/3 innings and Caitlin Benningfield came in to hold Fresno State scoreless over the final 2 1/3 innings.

Win or lose against Grand Canyon on Thursday, the Lobos will play next on Friday.

All Mountain West

The league announced the All-MW teams before Wednesday's game, including a program-record five Lobos.

5 Lobos earn all-conference honors, marking the most Lobos selected to the MW all-conference teams in program history.

• Of the 5, 4 are first time all-conference honorees.

RELEASE: https://t.co/7oHYiLuVUA#GoLobos pic.twitter.com/Z1nZvNeaKl

— UNM Softball (@UNMLoboSB) May 6, 2026

They were: First baseman Miracle McKenzie and left fielder DeNae Vasquez-Dickson to first team with Benningfield, Guest and short stop Gabrielle Briones each making honorable mention.

CUSA Tournament

The No. 5 seed New Mexico State Aggies were 1-1 in the first day of the Conference USA softball tournament in Newark, Delaware.

The Aggies beat No. 8 Sam Houston 3-0 before losing to No. 4 Delaware on Wednesday evening, dropping them into an elimination game on Thursday afternoon. NMSU will play the loser of a late Wednesday game that was played between No. 3 Liberty and No. 7 Louisiana Tech.

Reach Geoff Grammer at ggrammer@abqjournal.com or follow him on Twitter (X) @GeoffGrammer.