LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The Louisiana Tech Softball team heads to the 2024 Conference USA Softball Championship as the No. 3 seed and will play sixth-seeded UTEP in a first-round matchup on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.

The newly restructured six-team tournament is double-elimination up to a winner-take all championship game. Regular-Season CUSA Champion Liberty (No. 1 Seed) and runner-up WKU (No. 2 Seed) both earned first-round byes.

With a win over the Miners, the Bulldogs would take on No. 2 WKU on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. The losers of the New Mexico State vs. Jacksonville State and LA Tech vs. UTEP games would meet on Wednesday at 5 p.m.

Coverage for all games leading up to the championship game will be available through ESPN+, with the title game set to air on CBS Sports Network.

TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
Date/Time: Wednesday, May 8, 3:30 p.m. vs. UTEP | May 9-11, TBA
Location: New Mexico State Softball Complex | Las Cruces, N.M.
Watch: Wednesday vs. UTEP
Stats: LATechSports.com/Stats

ABOUT LOUISIANA TECH (31-20, 13-11 CUSA)
Louisiana Tech finished the regular season with a 31-20 overall record and is coming off a 1-2 weekend against FIU. The Bulldogs won game two 5-1 and fell in both the series opener and finale, 3-2.

LA Tech has reached 30-plus wins in all three seasons of head coach Josh Taylor's tenure. It also marked the 26th season in which LA Tech has tallied 30 or more wins.

Brook Melnychuk posted a record of 2-0 and a 0.50 ERA while earning two complete-game victories last week. She struck out seven and allowing just one run and 10 hits in her 14 innings pitched. The redshirt-junior threw her second career seven-inning complete-game shutout in a 4-0 win over a 38-win McNeese team on Tuesday (April 30). Melnychuk was nearly unhittable during the victory as she struck out four batters while allowing just three hits and no walks.

The Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan, Canada product was just as impressive in the Bulldogs' 5-1 win over FIU on Saturday (May 4). She earned her third career seven-inning complete-game victory and second of the week by allowing just one run on seven hits and a walk while striking out four FIU batters. As a result, of her efforts she was named CUSA Pitcher of the Week.

Nicole Hammoude leads LA Tech with 32 RBI and is tied with Kylie Neel for the team lead in home runs this season with five. 

Center fielder Alexis Gilio leads LA Tech with a .380 batting average (Min. 100 at-bats) and 60 hits, 22 RBI, 29 Runs scored, 19 walks and a team-leading 14 stolen bases. She has recorded multiple hits in each of her last four games and has 20 multi-hit games this season. In a 5-1 win over FIU on Saturday, Gilio set a new single-game career high with four runs batted in. In four games last week, she posted a .615 batting average with eight hits. Defensively, Gilio has committed two errors in 93 chances.
 
Opponents are hitting .258 against the Bulldogs' pitching staff in 2024. LA Tech holds a team ERA of 2.79 and a 1.28 WHIP in 346.1 innings pitched this season. In the last two seasons, the Bulldog pitchers have held opponents to two runs or less in 52 of their 106 games played.

Allie Floyd leads LA Tech in innings pitched (137.1) and strikeouts (77) this season while owning a 2.70 ERA. She has a 13-8 record and five saves this season. Floyd has held opponents to a .241 batting average in 2024.

Melnychuk is 12-7 this season with a team-best 2.69 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, and 60 strikeouts. Opposing hitters are batting .240 against her.

Second baseman Caroline Easom is just one double play away from tying Karlee Jensen (2015-18) for the all-time career program record in double plays turned with 56.
Catcher Brook Diaz ranks second in program history in runners caught stealing with 44. Diaz trails the all-time leader Erin Chernicky (2001-04) who has 45.

Floyd and Melnychuk are the first LA Tech duo to record 10+ wins in a season since Krystal De La Cruz (17-3) and Preslee Gallaway (19-10) accomplished the feat in 2019.
The long ball has paid dividends to the Bulldogs. LA Tech is 16-1 when homering this season.

The Bulldogs reached the 1,300-win mark earlier this season, becoming the 39th DI program (DI and AIAW included) to accomplish the feat.

LA Tech is led by head coach Josh Taylor, who is 102-64 in three seasons at Tech and 335-232 in his career, with prior stops at Nevada (2017-2021) and Feather River College (2009-2012). Taylor won his 100th game at LA Tech last Saturday with a 5-4 win at New Mexico State. He was the second-fastest LA Tech head coach to reach the 100-win mark, trailing only NFCA Hall of Famer Bill Galloway, who accomplished the feat in 132 games.

ABOUT UTEP (25-19, 11-13 CUSA)
UTEP finished the regular season with a 25-19 record and an 11-13 mark in CUSA play to earn its first trip to the CUSA Championship since 2019. The Miners went 1-2 at WKU in the final weekend series of league play, highlighted by a 7-2 win in the series finale.

UTEP is batting .286 as a team with 328 hits, 18 home runs, 188 RBI, and 206 runs scored.

Offensively, The Miners have four players in the starting lineup batting at or above .300. Ajia Richard is one of the most dangerous hitters in CUSA. The junior infielder is batting .384 and leads UTEP with 53 hits, 15 doubles, nine home runs, 41 RBI, 99 total bases, and 33 runs scored.

In the circle, UTEP has a team ERA of 4.02 with 164 strikeouts in 291 innings this season. Zaylie Calderon leads the Miners with a 3.00 ERA in 44.1 innings pitched while serving as their closer. Faith Aragon, leads UTEP with a 12-8, 3.44 ERA and 83 strikeouts in 122 innings pitched.

T.J. Hubbard is in his fifth season as head coach of UTEP with a record of 63-125. Before UTEP, he served as head coach at Utah Valley (2016-19), and North Texas (2007-13). Hubbard has a career coaching record of 280-377.
 
LA Tech went 1-2 against the Miners when the two teams met at Dr. Billy Bundrick Field this season (April 19-21). The Bulldogs had a thrilling. 4-2 come-from-behind victory in the series finale against the Miners on April 21. Trailing 2-0 with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning, the Bulldogs tied the game on an RBI double by Kylie Neel combined with a Miners' throwing error on an overthrow past second base on the play that scored the tying run. Caroline Easom's bases-loaded two-RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning provided the winning runs in the contest. In the circle, Mattison Buster earned her second career victory with three brilliant innings of shutout relief. Buster only allowed no hits while issuing no walks and striking out two Miners.
 
CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The Bulldogs have an all-time conference tournament record of 22-28 while posting a 10-10 record as a member of CUSA. LA Tech has won two CUSA Tournaments (2017, 2019) and one WAC tournament (2008). Last season the Bulldogs fell in the opening round to Middle Tennessee, 5-4 on May 10 in Ruston.
 
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