BOX SCORE

LAS CRUCES, N.M. – UTEP and Nebraska were knotted at 1-1 through two innings of play, but the Miners could not keep up with the hot-hitting Huskers and fell, 16-3, in five innings on Saturday afternoon at the NM State Softball Complex in Las Cruces.
 
UTEP (0-3) and Nebraska (3-1) traded blows in the first inning on Saturday, but the Cornhusker bats came alive in the third, fourth and fifth innings to top the Miners for the second straight day.
 
Freshman Zaylie Calderon received her first career start in the circle for the Miners and allowed one run on a pair of base hits in the first half inning, but settled in to limit the damage and hold Nebraska scoreless until the third.
 
In the bottom half of the first, UTEP's Kasey Flores evened the score with one swing of the bat, sending a solo home run, her second long ball of the tournament, deep over the left field fence to make it a 1-1 ball game.
 
Both teams were held scoreless in the second frame, but Nebraska broke the tie in the third inning with four base hits, including two doubles and a two-run home run to give the Cornhuskers a 5-1 lead.
 
In the fourth, Nebraska took advantage of a Miner error to start the inning and plated five unearned runs, capped off with a three-run home run that chased Calderon from the circle in favor of Allie Johnson.
 
The Huskers drew back-to-back walks to open the fifth inning, which led to freshman Isabella Kelly entering the game to pitch for the Miners. From there, Nebraska took advantage of another UTEP error and exploded for six runs on four hits to extend the lead to 16-1.
 
UTEP closed out the game on a high note in the bottom of the fifth when Sky Estrada pinch hit and laced to single to left field. Estrada came around to score when Ariana Valles recorded her first home run of the season, a two-run shot to left-center field before the game came to an end.
 
Overall, the Miners were outhit 14-5 by the Huskers, who had six players record multi-hit games.
 
Flores led the way for the Miners at the plate after going 2-for-3 with a home run, while Valles had two RBIs on her home run in the fifth. Calderon and Estrada each had one base hit apiece for UTEP.
 
Olivia Ferrell (1-0) started in the circle for Nebraska and picked up her first win of the season, while Calderon (0-1) was charged with the loss for the Miners. Calderon pitched 3.2 innings, allowing 10 runs – 6 earned – and issuing three walks. Johnson allowed two runs – one earned – on no hits and a pair of walks, while Kelly allowed four runs on as many hits and a walk in an inning of work.  
On Sunday, UTEP will take on Bradley (1-0) at 11:30 a.m. MT before closing out the weekend versus the host NM State Aggies at 2 p.m. that afternoon.
 
All Troy Cox Classic games are set to stream live on FLOSOFTBALL (subscribers only). Live stats for every game this weekend will be available through www.StatBroadcast.com.
 
For complete coverage of UTEP Softball, be sure to follow the Miners on social media at @utepsoftball (Instagram) and @UTEPSoftball (Twitter) or visit the official home of UTEP Athletics at UTEPMiners.com.