By James Hernandez

After taking three of four from third-place Snow College in the friendly confines of the "Den," the Lady Coyotes ventured out to Rangely, Colorado where they set their sights on a Spartans team that they battled to a 2-2 stalemate with earlier this season in Henderson, Nevada.

Sophomore Breanna Alvarez was in the circle to begin the series versus the Spartans, undoubtedly confident after earning a victory over CNCC in the team's initial meeting of the season a little over a month ago at Lady Coyotes Softball Field. Alvarez was dialed in from the opening batter, firing five innings of 1-run softball that included two strikeouts and four hits while surrendering just one run.

Southern Nevada entered the weekend plating 30 runs in its previous four contests (3-1) and continued its assault on SWAC pitching. CSN plated crooked numbers in its first four offensive frames, blasting the Spartans for a season-high 16 runs in the opener. Bailey Pepper (5 RBI, 1 HR), Alyssa Trujillo (3 RBI) and Breanna Alvarez (4 RBI) accounted for 12 of the Lady Coyotes 15 runs batted in.

Southern Nevada dispatched Colorado Northwestern 16-3, winning its third consecutive game and improving to 10-15 in conference and 12-24 overall. 

Game two of the weekend had a dramatically different beginning as a hungry Spartan squad raced out to an early 8-2 advantage aided in large part by a 5-run bottom of the second inning. Despite some hot bats in its previous three contests, the Lady Coyotes could not generate much offensively and it resulted in a six-run deficit entering the top of the seventh inning.

I believe the saying, 'it's better late than never" applied to the Lady Coyotes as the engineered a late-inning rally that helped them snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in game two of the weekend. Southern Nevada sent a dozen hitters to the plate in the top of the seventh, plating eight runs to take an improbable 10-8 advantage into the bottom of the seventh inning.

Eight of the nine Lady Coyote position players had at least one hit, including sophomore's Elise Bush and Haley Kassel who tied for the team lead with three runs batted in apiece. Karen Hernandez fired four innings of 1-run relief to propel herself to the winners circle as CSN held on to defeat CNCC 10-8.

The victory was the Lady Coyotes fourth in a row, improving the team's SWAC record to 11-15 and its overall mark to 13-24.

A suddenly potent offensive attack from Southern Nevada had the Lady Coyotes hunting a season-high fifth consecutive victory in game three of its weekend series versus the Spartans.

CNCC found itself ahead 3-0 early after some timely hitting and opportunistic base running in the first two innings, but CSN answered by plating seven runs in the middle innings to take a 8-3 advantage into the bottom of the sixth inning. Unfortunately for Southern Nevada the lead evaporated after Colorado Northwestern struck for a five spot that knotted game three of the weekend up 8-8.

A stunned group of Lady Coyotes was able to dust itself off and get right back in the fight the following inning, striking for six runs to take a commanding 14-8 lead into the bottom of the seventh. Alexis Vigil paced the offense with a game-high three runs batted in followed by Bailey Pepper and Haley Kassel who chipped in with a pair of RBI's apiece. Breanna Alvarez pitched the final five frames of the contest to earn her second victory of the series and third of the season versus the Spartans. Southern Nevada extended its winning streak to five games after dropping Colorado Northwestern 14-8 in game three.

The victory propelled CSN to 12-15 in conference play and 14-24 overall. 

The series finale featured a red-hot Lady Coyotes offense in search of a season-high sixth consecutive conference victory, the team's longest winning streak since Jim Overturf was in charge three seasons ago.

A five run top of the second inning aided CSN's cause, staking the team to a 6-0 lead after just two innings of work offensively. Bailey Pepper (4 RBI) deposited her second long ball of the weekend, and taking her team-leading RBI total to 46 after knocking in eleven runs in the four game series. Breanna Alvarez and Elise Bush found a pair of RBI's each in the lopsided victory that saw every starting position player tally at least one hit apiece.

Southern Nevada crushed Colorado Northwestern 16-5 in the series finale, running the team's winning streak to a season-best six games and improving to 13-15 in Scenic West Athletic Conference play and 15-24 overall. 

Fans your Lady Coyotes will its final home games of the 2019 season April 26^thand 27^thwhen the host Utah State University Eastern at the DEN. For game times, ticketing options and live updates all weekend log onto www.csncoyotes.comor follow us on Facebook CSNCoyotes and Twitter @CSN_Softball.