EL PASO, Texas – The Louisiana Tech Softball team slugged its way to a 10-7 series-opening victory over UTEP on Friday evening at Helen of Troy Softball Complex.
The Lady Techsters' bats came alive, tying a season-high with 12 hits and three home runs.
Jordyn Manning led the Tech offense with a 3-4 night with two RBI, including a solo home run in the fifth inning.
Kylie Neel drove in a team-high three runs courtesy of a three-run home run in the fourth inning. Katelin Cooper hit her sixth home run of the season with a two-run shot in the sixth. Seven Lady Techsters recorded a hit in the contest.
Allie Floyd picked up her seventh win of the season by spinning 4.1 innings in relief, allowing three earned runs and striking out two.
LA Tech is on a four-game winning streak and is now 27-18 overall and 9-7 in Conference USA play.
NOTABLES
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Kylie Neel extended her reached base streak to 16 and hitting streak to 10 games with a three-run home run in the fourth inning. The three-run shot resulted in her 10
th multi-RBI game of the season.
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Brooke Diaz recorded her sixth multi-hit game of the season with a single in the second inning and a double in the third.
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Jordyn Manning had her third multi-hit game of the season with a pair of singles and a solo home run to left field. Manning's three hits tied a career high that she previously set against Evansville on Feb. 14, 2020.
- Katelin Cooper hit her team-leading sixth home run of the season with a two-run shot to right field.
- The win was the Lady Techsters 21st all time over UTEP they now lead the all-time series, 21-15.
- With the win Tech has now won 770 all-time games away from Ruston.
- The win was the 1,287th all-time for Tech.
- LA Tech is now 25-3 this season when scoring first.
QUOTABLES
"We did a really good job offensively. It was nice to have three full days of practice this week to get back into a plan and an approach at the plate and all the little things that we were missing for a while.
Sierra Sacco did a great job at the top of the order setting the table.
Kylie Neel did a great job of driving runs in. We got three hits out of
Jordyn Manning including a home run in the eight hole which is always huge.
Brooke Diaz was much better too with two hits of her own. We are going to have to continue that tomorrow. The ball flies here so we are going to need offense. I am proud of our team and how our offense responded today. We are looking forward to tomorrow." – Head Coach
Josh Taylor
HOW IT HAPPENED
Emma Hutchinson made her 11th start of the season for Tech, while the Miners' Aalijah Alacorn got the starting nod for the 16th time this season.
Sierra Sacco led off the game with an infield single for her team-leading 45th hit of the year. Sacco would be the lone base runner for Tech in the inning.
Lexi Morales of UTEP led off the bottom half with a leadoff single to centerfield. Hutchinson settled in and promptly retired her next three batters to complete a scoreless inning.
Katelin Cooper led off the top of the second with a four-pitch walk followed by a single to right field by
Brooke Diaz to put two runners on base with no outs.
Caroline Easom then worked a full count before walking to load the bases.
Jordyn Manning singled up the middle for the game's first run. Tech added two more for an early 3-0 lead courtesy of an infield single by
Bailey Wright and a sacrifice fly by
Sierra Sacco.
Ajia Richard hit a solo home run with two outs in the bottom of the second to put the Miners on the board and make it 3-1.
Tech responded with two outs in the top of the third. Diaz doubled to centerfield and then was driven home by Easom who singled off the right-centerfield fence to increase the lead to 4-1. Manning recorded her second hit of the day with a single through the left side the next at bat.
In the bottom of the third, UTEP tied it up at 4-4 with an RBI single by Peyton Angulo and a two-run home run by Caitlyn Brockway.
Allie Floyd relieved Hutchinson and picked up the final out of the inning.
Sierra Sacco doubled off the centerfield wall to lead off the fourth inning.
Amanda Gonzalez followed with a single up the middle to put runners on the corner.
Kylie Neel then hit her fourth home run of the season with a three-run shot over the left-centerfield fence.
Floyd worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the fourth, highlighted by a nice diving catch in right-centerfield by
Kylie Neel that took away an extra-base hit.
Jordyn Manning hit her fifth home run of the season with a solo shot to left field in the top of the fifth.
Floyd breezed through the UTEP bats in the bottom of the fifth, capped by
Brooke Diaz catching her 10th runner of the season stealing when she threw out the Miners' Savannah Favre, who attempted to take second base.
Tech got two more in the top of the sixth courtesy of a two-run home run from Katelin Cooper.
UTEP clawed back with three runs in the bottom of the sixth to make it 10-7, which would be the final.
Both teams were retired in order in the seventh as
Allie Floyd struck out the Miners' Caitlyn Brockaway to end the game.
Floyd got the win for Tech, improving to 7-7 on the year, while Mackenzee Collins took the loss for the Miners to drop to 0-4.
NEXT UP
The Lady Techsters will be back in action at on Saturday, April 22 when they look to take the series at 4 p.m. CT.
For all the latest in Lady Techster Softball, follow them on Twitter (@LATechSB), Instagram (@LATechSB) and Facebook (Louisiana Tech Softball) or visit the official website at LATechSports.com.
