ODESSA, Texas (February 8, 2026) – Backed by a stellar performance both in the circle and at the plate by Laila Vasquez in game one and clutch hits by a pair of freshmen in game two, the UT Permian Basin softball team finished off a four-game sweep in its first home series of the season, winning 2-0 and 3-2 in two more low-scoring games over Northwestern Oklahoma State University on Super Bowl Sunday.
 
Game 1 (UTPB 2, NOSU 0):

• Despite four walks and a hit by pitch in the first three innings, Vasquez (1-2) stuck out the side in the third inning, giving her six punchouts through three innings.
• Then after a two-out walk drawn by Kelsey Valo to extend the inning in the bottom of the fourth, Vasquez helped her own cause by annihilating a first-pitch, two-run home run to left center field. It was Vasquez's second home run within the first two weeks of the season.
• The defense was also strong behind Vasquez, not committing a single error while fielding back-to-back groundouts to shortstop to end the top of the fourth inning and back-to-back groundouts to second base to end the top of the fifth inning.
• Vasquez did not allow a hit until with one out in the top of the sixth inning when an eight-pitch at bat by Taygan Graham ended with a single up the middle. With two runners in scoring position and just one out, Vasquez got a swinging strikeout for her seventh strikeout of the game, and then a flyout to Carlee Quintero in left field kept the Rangers off the scoreboard.
• In the final inning, Vasquez got a groundout to second base for the first two outs, and after a two-out double that just landed fair in between a pair of Falcons' defenders down the right field line, a final groundout to Mia Serrato at second base was all she wrote.
• Vasquez threw 111 pitches through five innings and finished the game at 149 pitches. It was her first-career complete game and shutout as a Falcon. She finished with seven innings pitched allowing two hits, zero runs, six walks and seven strikeouts.
• Madelyn Cason (0-2) and the Rangers' pitching staff allowed less baserunners (8) than Vasquez (9) did, but it was Vasquez that had the hit that counted the most.
• "Coach Brooke has been working hard with Laila, and she has trusted Coach Brooke with her pitch calling," said UTPB Head Softball Coach David Martinez. "Coach Brooke has given Laila the belief about what she can accomplish, and she is gaining a lot of confidence."

 
Game 2 (UTPB 3, NOSU 2):

• UTPB hit its second home run of the day as freshman Odalys Solis bombed a one-out, solo home run to left field in the bottom of the first inning. She was the second UTPB freshman to homer on the weekend.
• In the circle for UTPB, Presley Crawford pitched a 1-2-3 first inning, worked around back-to-back one-out walks in the second inning, and got around a one-out walk by fielding back-to-back groundouts to the pitcher in the third inning.
• Unfortunately, Crawford was tagged with a leadoff home run to left field by Gabrielle Sanchez in the fourth inning, tying the game at 1-1 with the first hit of the game against Crawford.
• With two runners in scoring position with two outs and a 3-2 count still in the top of the fourth inning, a line drive single to third base by Savannah Duran brought in the go-ahead run (2-1).
• Freshman Alivia Robinson, who homered to left field on Saturday, tried to answer NOSU's go-ahead run in the bottom of the fourth as she launched a deep shot to center field, and although it was just caught at the fence by Duran for the final out of the inning, it would not be the last crucial plate appearance for Robinson in the game.
• Crawford allowed four hits, two runs and three walks in her four innings of work before giving way to Priscilla Medina (3-0) to start off the fifth inning.
• Trailing by one run (2-1) in the bottom of the sixth inning, a single up the middle by Keri Sanford was followed by a single to center field by Solis to put two Falcons on base with just one out.
• Facing the new pitcher, Grace Hulsey, Vasquez lined a single to third base to load the bases, and then with two outs and the bags still full, Robinson was all over the first pitch and launched it over the head of the left fielder for a two-run, go-ahead, standup double scoring both Sanford and Solis.
• Now pitching with a one-run lead (3-2) in the top of the seventh, Medina got a groundout to Solis at third base for out number one and got a foul out line drive again to Solis for out number two. After a two-out single up the middle put the tying run on base, Solis made the most of her third chance in the inning, fielding the grounder and throwing it over to Robinson at first base to end the game.
• Medina allowed just one hit, no runs, no walks and one hit by pitch in her three innings to finish the game.
• "A big part of this series was about the next person stepping up," said Coach Martinez. "We were able to give some players some rest, and I wanted to see what the freshman could do, and they took advantage of the opportunity they were given. We preach a never-quite attitude, and that is what the team did this weekend."

 
Team Records:

• UTPB improves to 7-2 overall with the two wins while NOSU, which was picked 12th in the Great American Conference (GAC) Preseason Poll, falls to 4-6.

 
Coach's Quote:

• Coach Martinez concluded, "It was a good team win today. The main thing was that everybody contributed to this four-game sweep. We started four different pitchers who all did their thing, and we got timely hitting from different spots in the lineup. I am just proud of everybody. Starting the season at 7-2 feels really great. We obviously still have some room to improve, but overall this is a great start for this program and for this team."

 
Series Combined Statistical Leaders:

• Angelina Arriaga caught the first game each day behind and the plate, led the team with a .667 on-base percentage, and hit .500 (2-4) with a double and two walks.
• Keri Sanford hit .417 (5-12) across all four games and led the team in both hits and runs scored (4).
• Laila Vasquez hit .333 (3-9) across three games with a two-run home run in game one on Sunday. She also pitched a complete-game, two-hit shutout in that game, striking out seven batters in the process.
• Odalys Solis hit .400 (2-5) across two games, and hit a solo home run while also scoring two runs in the game-two win on Sunday.
• Alivia Robinson hit .333 (2-6) across two games and led the team with five RBI's on the weekend after hitting a three-run home run in game two on Saturday and adding the game-winning two-run double in the sixth inning on Sunday.
• Priscilla Medina went 2-0 on the weekend in the circle and allowed just two runs, five hits and two walks in 10 combined innings.

 
Next Up: UTPB will host one more time before the start of conference play. The Falcons welcome the Mustangs of the University of the Southwest (N.M.) to the UTPB Softball Park for a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. on Friday, February 13.