ODESSA, Texas — A late-game rally was too much for the Newman softball team to overcome Sunday morning, as it fell to Texas-Permian Basin to close out a Heartland Conference series.

The Jets (12-28, 4-11 Heartland) scored first to take the lead, and then battled back to tie things up midway through the game, but the Falcons (9-30, 5-13 Heartland) put up big numbers in the fifth and the sixth to take control and grab a 10-3 victory.

Newman got on board first, as Taylor Mannis led off the game with a single and came around to score on a two-out single up the middle by Courtney Sartin to lift the guests to a 1-0 lead. A big swing of the bat gave the lead to UTPB in the bottom half of the inning though, and it would hold on to the advantage through the next three frames.

Both sides saw runner reach base, but the pitchers buckled down to keep it a 3-1 game until the top of the fifth. There, Missy Swanson  connected on a home run to center to start the inning, and Mikayla Medbery followed two batters later with her first homer of the season on a solo shot to center to tie things up at 3-3. The Falcons would answer in the bottom half to retake the lead, and were able to fend off the Jets over the final two innings to preserve the win.

Mannis and Medbery each posted two hits and scored a run, with Sartin, Swanson, Rachael Withers, Delaney Hiegert and Kendra Mendoza all adding a hit to their record.

The Jets return home for five games this week, beginning with a nonconference doubleheader against Fort Hays State Tuesday.