May 7, 2008

Houston, Texas - The UTEP softball team landed three players on the All-Conference USA teams announced league officials Wednesday. Stacie Townsend and Camilla Carrera garnered first team selections while Amber Bennett was named to the second team. Carrera also received all-freshman team recognition.

It marks the first time in program history that the Miners have garnered players on the first team and the third consecutive campaign UTEP has landed three on the all-league team.

This is the second honor for Townsend and Bennett. Townsend was named to the league's all-freshman team in 2007 and Bennett earned second team honors in 2006, the Miners' first season in Conference USA.

Townsend was one of two players to start in all of UTEP's 52 games. She leads UTEP in RBI (35), home runs (9), walks (33) and on base percentage (.464) and is second on the team in batting average (.331), slugging percentage (.593), runs (36) hits (48) and total bases (86). A sophomore from Orlando, Fla., Townsend has nine games with multiple RBI to rank first on the team, including a season - high four vs. UAB. She has posted 12 multiple hit games and held the Miners' longest streak with 14 games from Feb. 23 through March 12. Townsend has recorded 61 putouts with 79 assists at second base - the second-best in 2008. She has turned five double plays and has a season-best five putouts vs. Southern Miss.

Named Conference USA Hitter of the Week on March 10 after batting .833 in a series against UAB, Carrera led UTEP to its first-ever conference sweep. The freshman rates first on the team, fourth in the league and nationally in batting average (.390) while ranking first on the team in hits (53), slugging percentage (.654) and total bases (89) and ranks tied for first in doubles (12). A native of Laveen, Ariz., Carrera is second on the team in RBI with 32 and home runs (8) and on base percentage (.454) while recording 31 runs and 14 walks. She is batting .413 in conference-only games to rank sixth in the league and has batted over the .500 mark in three conference series in 2008.

Carrera saw action at catcher, first base, third base, outfield and designated player to tally 52 putouts with six assists so far during the 2008 campaign. Carrera leads the Miners in multiple hit games having posted 16 while registering seven multiple RBI games and holds the second-longest hitting streak in 2008 with 13 games from Feb. 23 through March 12. She is the only Miner to record five RBIs in a game - twice (Texas Southern and Prairie View A&M) and registered four RBIs against Northern Colorado. Carrera is the only Miner to lace back-to-back home runs in a game this season (vs. Texas Southern).

A native of Ontario, Calif., Bennett is batting .306 to rate third on the team. UTEP's career leader in runs scored (125), walks (75), hit-by-pitch (22) and assists (254), the third baseman ranks 31st nationally in runs with 41 - a team-high and is tied for the top spot in doubles with 12. Bennett is just one of four players to hit a triple and has also tallied 48 hits and three long balls for a total of 20 RBI.

Bennett has had 14 multiple hit games and three multiple RBI games and posted an eight-game hitting streak from April 12 through 26. At third base she has registered 35 putouts with 77 assists.

The Miners will face Tulsa in the first round of the Conference USA Softball Championship in Houston, Texas. First pitch is slated for 1:30 p.m. MST.