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Townsend Leads Miners to Doubleheader Sweep of Southern Miss
The Miners look to remain undfeated at home when they face Southern Miss at 11 a.m. on Saturday.

	Stacie Townsend

April 2, 2010

UTEP vs Southern Miss Game 1 Box Score

UTEP vs Southern Miss Game 2 Box Score

EL PASO, Texas -The UTEP Miners (25-12, 7-4 C-USA) swept a doubleheader from Southern Miss (14-16, 0-8) on Friday, at the Helen of Troy Softball Complex. The Miners won the first game with ease, 10-3, but it took extra innings in the nightcap, as UTEP won in the bottom of the eighth off a bases loaded walk by Kelynn Frye.

The Miners remain undefeated at home, posting a 12-0 record, including a 5-0 mark in C-USA games.

Stacie Townsend used her bat and her arm, collecting both victories from the circle, while batting a team-high .800 (4-for-5) with four runs and three walks.

Townsend (21-7) exceeded the 18 K’s she needed to reach 700 for her career, hurling a total of 23 for the day, including 15 in the day’s opener. It was the third-best performance of the season for the senior, who picked up her seventh double-digit strikeout game of the season.

Both teams brought their bats, connecting for a combined 38 hits and 30 runs on the day.

UTEP’s Camilla Carrera, Chelsea Troupe and Courtney Ware, each belted home runs and USM’s Leslie Lejune also notched a round-tripper for the Eagles. In total, 11 of the 38 hits on the day were for extra bases.

The Miners jumped ahead early in the first game, as Ware’s longball opened up the scoring in the bottom of the second.

Helped by four Southern Miss errors, UTEP came up big in the third, scoring four runs to take a 5-0 lead.

Southern Miss put a run on the board in the following frame, as Megan Hill drew a walk from Townsend. A strikeout later, Logan James knocked a triple into the right-center gap, plating Hill. The Eagles added another run in the next frame off of Lejune’s dinger.

Leading 5-2, the Miners added two runs in the fifth stanza, as Ware and Jessica Villanueva each reached base on a fielder’s choice, but not before driving in Troupe and Ashley Ellis, respectively, for the 7-2 lead.

Hill and Jill Mathis received free passes to first from Townsend in the top of the sixth inning. With Hill on second, James hit a short grounder to short. In an attempt to get Mathis out at second, UTEP’s Kayla Oranger threw a bad toss, allowing Hill to score.

UTEP added insurance in the bottom of the inning though, as four singles and a base on balls gave the Miners three runs for the 10-3 final.

In a contest that took three hours and 30 minutes, the second triumph was not as easy.

The two teams remained scoreless through three innings before USM plate three runs in the fourth inning, led by a two-RBI single by James, to go up on the Miners 3-0.

But UTEP bounced back in the bottom of the frame, scoring seven runs with two outs on the board.

After back-to-back flyouts, Villanueva and Ashley Collazo drew walks to get on base. Frye hit a hard single passed second to load the bases. Kia Moore belted a ground rule double, after the ball took a hard bounce and jumped out of the park, plating Villanueva and Collazo. Troupe stepped to the plate and laced her 14^th career homer that bounced off the scoreboard, good for three runs.

Townsend drew a walk from the Eagles’ Gabby Luciani and Carrera went yard for the fifth time in 2010 to give UTEP the 7-3 lead.

Southern Miss collected another two runs to come with in one run of UTEP (7-6) in the following frame after Joanna Krienitz came in relief of UTEP’s Courtney Auger and took an 8-7 lead in the sixth off of Townsend.

The Miners had an opportunity to stop the threat, as Townsend fanned Britney Dinelt with the bases loaded. But Carrera, who was behind the plate, let the ball get away, driving in the tying run for the Eagles.

USM scored two runs off a single by Hill to take the lead.

UTEP answered back with a bases loaded walk by Ware. And in the same fashion, the Miners kept their undefeated streak alive, as Frye drove in the winning run in the same fashion.

The Miners look to sweep their second league series of the season and remain undefeated in the final game of the series Saturday at 11 a.m.