EL PASO, Texas – UTEP softball's
Karina Somoza blasted a grand slam that lifted the Miners (1-1) to a 5-2 victory over Idaho State (1-1) as the two programs split their opening day doubleheader in the 2022 UTEP Invitational at the Helen of Troy Softball Complex on a cool Thursday evening.
UTEP freshman hurler
Aalijah Alarcon won her first collegiate game in a complete-game effort. The Miners' offense took advantage of three Bengals' errors in the fifth, scoring all five runs in the frame. The Miners bounced back after losing to Idaho State, 9-4, in the season opener.
"I felt like we competed well for opening day," head coach TJ Hubbard said. "We left a lot of runners on base that doomed us at the end of game one, they bounced back, they battled well in the second game, and we are in a good spot for the rest of the weekend."
GAME 2 | UTEP 5, ISU 2
ISU jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the fifth inning after a UTEP miscue that led to a Rheanne Lewis run. But Somoza lifted a 0-1 pitch that just made it over Morgan Hess's glove and the left field fence, bringing in
Ilena Santos,
Aaliyah Rebolledo, and
Hunter Harkrider to take a 4-2 edge in the bottom of the fifth.
Autumn Scott doubled to center field, advanced to third on an error and scored the final run of the night on a dead ball to extend the lead.
The Miners tamed the Bengals for the remainder of the game.
Alarcon was a huge reason why Idaho State was held in check. After allowing a double in her first career batter faced, and hitting the next batter, the Bengals had two on with no outs. But Alarcon settled in, forcing a groundout and then fanning back-to-back batters as Frankie Tago and Isabella Han went down swinging to end the first frame.
Alarcon (1-0) threw all 7.0 innings, struck out five, and walked only two with two earned runs. Lewis led off the top seventh with single and advanced to second on an error. But Alarcon struck out Angelica Can, and then forced a pair of groundouts to end the game to give the Miners their first win of 2022.
Offensively, Somoza finished 2-for-2 with four RBI, while Santos went 1-for-2 with a run and Scott finished 1-for-3 in the leadoff position. Somoza tallied seven putouts from behind the plate, while Santos recorded 10 at first base.
GAME 1 | ISU 9, UTEP 4
ISU jumped out to a 5-0 lead to open the UTEP Invitational. But UTEP battled as
Ajia Richard put the Miners on the board with a double to left field, bringing in
Savannah Favre and shortly after
Pate Cathey shredded a double down the left field line to bring in Richard. Back-to-back homers in the fifth by Cathey and
Cheyenne Stark – in her first game with the Miners – turned a four-run deficit into two (6-4). But the feisty Bengals answered with three runs in the sixth to take game one.
Cathey finished 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs, while Scott (2-3) and Richard (2-4) also finished with multiple knocks.
Marijn Crouwel went 1-for-3 in her UTEP debut.
UP NEXT
The Miners will face off against Abilene Christian (0-0) at 4 p.m. MT and Creighton (0-0) at 7 p.m. MT, Friday (Feb. 11) at the Helen of Troy Softball Complex. Prior to UTEP's contests in other action at the 2022 UTEP Invitational, ACU will open its season against Idaho State at 10 a.m., while Creighton will also play its season opener against the Bengals at 1 p.m.
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