A three-run homer by junior center fielder Gabby Spallone (Miami, Florida / Palmetto HS) gave FIU an early lead, but the Panthers succumbed to the long ball late against UTEP and dropped a 5-4 decision Wednesday in the first round of the 2016 Conference USA Softball Championships, hosted by North Texas. The loss ends the FIU season at 29-27.
 
FIU are 0-7 all-time versus the Miners, five of those by one run, including three times this season. The Panthers led in all four meetings against UTEP this season. The Miners improve to 23-31 overall and advance to tonight's late game versus Southern Miss.
 
 Freshman Jackie Schoff (Bradenton, Florida / Lakewood Ranch HS) hit an infield single and junior Ashley Leon (Miami, Florida / Gulliver Prep / Auburn University) followed with a bunt single to lead off the third inning. Following a flyout, Spallone took a 1-1 pitch from UTEP ace Kaitlin Fifield over the fence for her second home run of the year as the Panthers took the 3-0 lead.
 
The Miners answered in the bottom half with a leadoff double that turned into a run after a two-out, bloop single to left. An RBI double to right-center followed and the margin was one run after the frame, 3-2.
 
In the fifth, Leon registered her third hit of the day with a leadoff triple to right-center field. She scored a batter later after a Stephanie Texeira (Miami, Florida / Gulliver Prep) sacrifice fly to right, extending the Panther lead to 4-2.
 
The lead held until the bottom of the fifth, when UTEP designated player Kaitlin Ryder hit a three-run homer off the scoreboard in left-center to grab the 5-4 edge.
 
FIU got the first two batters on in the top of the sixth, but one runner was thrown out at home on a squeeze and two were left on after a groundout.
 
FIU freshman Magen Kugelmann (Merritt Island, Florida / Cocoa Beach HS) took the loss (7-6). She came in with two outs in the third and was charged with the three runs in the fifth. She allowed the three runs on three hits and a walk, with one strikeout.
 
Freshman starting pitcher Abby Summers (Weston, Missouri) lasted 2.2 innings, allowing two runs on four hits.
 
Fifield got the win (11-17) after going the distance, allowing nine hits and four earned runs. She struck out one Panther.
 
Texeira's RBI gave her a team-leading 46 for the season, fifth-most in a season in school history and 138 for her career. She is second all-time at FIU and trails the career leader, Ashley McClain, by 23. Spallone's three RBI gave her nine in her last four games of the season and 35for the season. She moves up into a tie for fifth all-time with Brie Rojas, at 116.

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About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports, and is a proud member of Conference USA. Athletic events are played in seven different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including FIU Arena and the FIU Football Stadium.
 
About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offers more than 180 bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU contributes $9.8 billion each year to the local economy. FIU is Worlds Ahead in finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission. FIU has awarded over 200,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and has over 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.