After waiting nearly a month to face off, the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) finally hosted the University of New Mexico (UNM) on Tuesday at the Helen of Troy Softball Complex. The original matchup, scheduled for March 18, had to be postponed due to dust storms in the El Paso area.
For the Miners, the new date meant it’d be the sixth game they’d play in seven days. Meanwhile, UNM was stomping into the 915 with a want to rebound after failing to sweep conference foe Colorado State two days prior.
Ultimately, the Miners wanted to avenge their series sweep over Conference-USA (CUSA) opponent Sam Houston who bested the Lobos, as UTEP beat UNM 9-2, with the game ending at the bottom of the fifth inning due to the NCAA’s softball mercy rule.
It was UTEP who set the tone at the plate early, as in the bottom of the first inning senior Ajia Richard hit a single that went through first base and carved the path for senior Ashlynn Griffith to slide into home, giving the Miners an early one to nothing lead.
Starting at the circle for UTEP was graduate student Taja Felder, who was seeking her seventh win of the season. In the first inning, Felder prevented the Lobos from scoring any runs despite UNM having runners on the corners. Yet Felder couldn’t shut down a response from UNM, as senior Sydney Carithers sent Felder’s pitch down the left field line to secure a double giving enough time to send pinch runner Adelaide Haack home.
After Haack tied up the game at one a piece, UNM never came close to matching the Miners that afternoon.
On her first swing of the day, sophomore Madi Mendoza bunted freshman Caprice Barela’s pitch and was quick enough to reach first base. Mendoza’s speed was again put on display after stealing second, while junior Halle Hogan was at the plate. While Hogan stuck out, senior Amaya Lee hit Barela’s pitch down to right center field and gained the double, while Mendoza flew down to home.
The Miners weren’t done scoring for the second inning, as Griffith sent a groundball that went off the glove of UNM shortstop Jewels Hanawahine. Lee capitalized and used the fielding error to run her way down to home, giving UTEP a 3-1 lead.
After UTEP’s two-hit second inning performance, UNM had their first out of four pitching changes that day, bringing in sophomore Lexi Atcitty to relieve Barela.
Atcitty first walked Richard but proceeded to collect two outs. With only one out to work with, Mendoza came back to the plate and blasted Atcitty’s pitch out of the left field side of the fence, extending the Miner’s lead, 5-1.
Both squads stalled out in the fourth inning. At the top of the fifth, UNM was able to lightly cut into UTEP’s lead after a run from sophomore DeNae Vasquez Dickson, but couldn’t capitalize off having the bases loaded.
Rishard, who’s performance at bat helped her reclaim the lead in CUSA for batting average, led off the top of the fifth with a double. Freshman Marissa Burchard would follow suit with a run-batted-in triple, sending Richard’s pinch runner, Cece Marquez home. Burchard herself would get to home plate after a sacrifice ground out from sophomore Lynn Sepulveda.
UTEP’s dominance at the plate made way for the Miners to add a homerun off the bat for Hogan to clinch a 9-2 victory over the Lobos, in the fifth inning.
For UTEP, the win over UNM marks their 16th win overall in the season. They’ll meet UNM for the second time this season down in Albuquerque, New Mexico on April 22.
UTEP versus UNM is available on-demand on ESPN+.
Sebastian Perez-Navarro is the multimedia editor for The Prospector and can be reached at [email protected] or Instagram and X @sebastianpn8, and on LinkedIn @sebastianperez-navarro.
