By ERIN BASS

Associate Sports Editor

Maybe it was because of the beautiful weather this past Saturday afternoon or maybe it was the group of aviation majors who sang "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" and heckled the Miners.

But whatever the reason, Tech (17-24, 1-2 WAC) finally broke a seven-game losing streak with a 2-1 win over the University of Texas-El Paso (14-23, 2-1 WAC) last Saturday.

After losing both games in a double header against UTEP the night before, the Lady Techsters finally pulled out a win after a losing streak, which began on March 20 against Top 25 ranked University of Missouri.

"The major adjustment was focusing more on the game and taking it more seriously," Tech head coach Sarah Dawson said.

"We were letting to many outside factors influence the job we needed to accomplish."

The three-game series against UTEP was also the Western Athletic Conference opener for the Lady Techsters.

The series opened with a double header last Friday evening, where the Lady Techsters kept the first game scoreless until the bottom of the first when senior Amber Miles made it to home plate thanks in part to a double hit by sophomore Jessica Elson.

No runs were scored again until it was UTEP's turn to bat in the top of the fourth, when the Miners answered with two runs along with one more in the top of the fifth to make it 3-1.

The Lady Techsters came back with one more run, again scored by Miles, in the bottom of the fifth inning to advance the game to 3-2, but neither team scored in the final two innings.

At the top of the first inning in the second game, the Miners scored three runs off of Tech's starting freshman pitcher Leslie Aycock.

Although Tech managed four hits, they were not able to score, and the game ended in a shutout.

The third and final match-up between UTEP and Tech last Saturday was held at 0-0 until the fifth inning when UTEP scored.

The Lady Techsters did not answer until the bottom of the sixth when senior pitcher Lindsey Meadows came up to bat.

"The entire team was more focused, more business like than yesterday," Meadows said. "I think that helped us a lot today."

Meadows hit a single, making way for sophomore Ashley Cameron to make it across home while having to avoid running over the UTEP catcher who failed to tag her.

Then, in the bottom of the seventh inning with one out and no one on base, Miles once again stepped up to bat.

"'I'm scoring'. That is what is going through my head anytime I hit the ball," Miles said.

And score she did.

Miles hit her first triple of the season, which eventually became the key ingredient to Tech's' win when freshman Rochelle Sandberg's hit into left field allowed Miles to make it across home plate.

Meadows (13-16) picked up the win, allowing only one unearned run on five hits and two walks, while striking out nine UTEP batters.

"If we play the way we did today we should have no problem with any other conference games," Meadows said. "We can do anything as long as we focus."

Tech came out of the series with 15 hits and six errors.

But only winning one game out of a three-game series prompted Dawson to say there was a lot of room for improvement.

"We are still struggling offensively," Dawson said. "The talent is there, but there are still mental barriers -- a few of which we broke down today against UTEP."

Along with Dawson, right fielder Cameron also believes their hitting game was not up to par.

"Collectively, as a team we were not hitting the ball well, and that turned out to be our main weakness," Cameron said.

"But we were in a losing slump there for a while, and now we are out of it."

This weekend the Lady Techsters will face off against the University of Nevada (12-18, 2-1).

"We are going into this game mentally ready, knowing that they cannot beat us," Cameron said. "We have to look at winning this game as a job, which we will get done."