Kayleigh Walts had four RBIs and a three-run home run in the Miners second game Sunday against North Dakota at the 2011 Ramada UNI-Dome Classicin Cedar Falls, Iowa.. (Image: Jeff Taylor)

EL PASO, Texas – It was a tough weekend for UTEP softball as the Miners walked away from the two-day tournament with a 1-3 record and some evident growing pains.

Things did not start well for the Miners as they were crushed against South Dakota as sophomore Joanna Krenitz only lasted 1 2/3 innings giving up three hits and four runs. Reliever Megan Atchison gave up another run in the inning and four more in the second before Laura Ramos came in. The back-to-back five-run innings were just too much as UTEP (3-3) lost 10-2.

In the game against Northern Iowa, UTEP jumped to an early lead in the first and added another run in the top of the fifth inning. It was 2-0 untill the bottom of the sixth inning when Northern Iowa put three runs on the board. Starting pitcher Courtney Auger was tagged with the loss and up until the sixth shut out the Panthers through five innings. Northern Iowa scored all three runs on one hit.

Sunday was a bit better for the Miners as they bounced back from an 8-0 loss to Drake to defeat North Dakota, 8-5, in the Miners final game.

“We are working out our weaknesses and getting used to each other,” co-head coach James Rodriguez said. “We experimented with the lineup and batting order during this tournament. Our goal is to get better in each game we play and I think we did that today.”

Freshman pitcher Laura Ramos kept Drake off the scoreboard through three innings before giving up a pair of runs off of Jenna DeLong’s homerun. The UTEP defense responded ending the inning in the next two at bats. The Miners were unable to put up a run in the top of the fifth and the Bulldogs scored six runs in the bottom of the fifth, run rulling the Miners by the score of 8-0.

The Miners got right back on the field with senior pitcher Courtney Auger in the circle against North Dakota. With two outs in the bottom of the first, senior and captain Camille Carrera blasted a single to centerfield. Junior Chelsea Troupe took a walk and sophomore Kayleigh Walts started off a stellar day with a three-run homerun to left field.

In the second, the Miners added four more runs an one more in the third before holding off the Fighting Sioux’s charge with runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. Krienitz, coming in for relief work in the fifth, struck out the next batter and Maggie O’Neal grounded out to end the inning. The sophomore pitcher allowed one more run in the sixth, but the North Dakota hitters went down one-two-three in the top of the fifth to give UTEP the 8-5 victory.

Walts finished the game with two hits, four RBIs and one run, Troupe and Carrera each scored two runs. Auger improved to 2-1 for the season allowing four runs off of four hits.

UTEP returns home for a three-game series against Houston Baptist. The Miners will play a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 3 p.m. and play the third game on Sunday at 11 a.m.

Chris Avila can be reached at show@minerillustrated.com. Information from UTEP Athletics was used in this story.