Desirae Spearman’s return to El Paso didn’t take long to turn special.
The Hanks alum and left fielder for the No. 3 Texas Tech softball team didn’t get anything to hit in her first at-bat at Helen of Troy Field Wednesday against UTEP, which turned into a lead-off four-pitch walk in the second inning.
That was a good thing for UTEP given what Spearman did when she got something to hit.
The Red Raiders eventually scored eight runs in that second inning, starting and ending with Spearman, and that ending came on a three-run blast Spearman sent flying over the centerfield wall on a 3-2 count.
She added a double in the third inning, then blasted another shot over the center field wall to cap off a 3-for-3 game with 10 total bases, a walk, three runs scored and four RBIs. It marked her second two-home-run game of the season (the other was against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi).
If was a familiar site to the many fans she had at the sold-out Helen of Troy and were her 10th and 11th home runs this season. Her first gave the Red Raiders a 9-0 lead in the first game of a doubleheader, her second completed the scoring in a 16-0 run-rule five-inning win.
Notably for UTEP, the Miners dodged a combined perfect game from Red Raiders co-aces Kaitlyn Terry and Nijaree Canady (the first $1 million NIL player in NCAA softball history) when Cece Marquez hit a clean single up the middle with two outs in the fourth off Canady.
Marquez was UTEP’s only baserunner in a game where Tech had 10 strikeouts. Game 2 was later Wednesday night.
Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Hanks alum Desirae Spearman lights up UTEP for Texas Tech
Reporting by Bret Bloomquist, El Paso Times / El Paso Times
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