North Texas Daily

North Texas softball’s (10-5) day at the Boerner Invitational showed the duality of the sport. Splitting their two games, the Mean Green felt the elation of a 2-1 walk off victory over Missouri State University and the agony of a 13-2 blowout against Wichita State University.

The only pitcher of record today for North Texas was graduate right-hander Gigi Wall, who earned her fifth win against Missouri State (7-6) and suffered her third loss to Wichita State (8-2).

The North Texas bats only accounted for three runs to their opponents 14 today.

“We’re making bad decisions at the plate,” Head coach Rodney DeLong said. “We’re not very confident and we’re pressing a little bit.”

Game One: North Texas 2, Missouri State 1

Following a 6-run loss against Iowa State University on Friday, the Mean Green looked to bounce back against Missouri State.

Senior Hope Trautwein took the circle for North Texas going six innings and allowing only one hit and run on the day.

The contest was the definition of a pitching matchup, as senior pitcher Steffany Dickerson pitched all eight innings for the Bears, holding the Mean Green scoreless until the sixth inning.

Trautwein’s one earned run was in her final inning when a run came across from third on a wild pitch.

North Texas quickly scored the run back at the bottom of the sixth.

Freshman outfielder Molly Rainey hit a double to leadoff the inning followed by senior outfielder Tuesday Dermargisan beating out a sac bunt to get Rainey to third.

As junior first baseman Tayla Evans was at-bat, Margosian stole second, causing an errant throw from Frost, which allowed Rainey to tie the game from third.

After Dickerson held North Texas to one run, Wall checked into the game for Trautwein in the seventh.

The game remained scoreless until extra innings, when Dermargosian hit a sacrifice fly to score the game’s winning run from third.

Wall was able to hold off Missouri State in extra innings, earning the win with two innings pitched.

Game Two: North Texas 2, Wichita State 13

Hoping to capitalize on the momentum gained from the morning’s walk-off win against Missouri State, Wall took the circle for North Texas against Wichita State.

The Shockers lineup immediately jumped on Wall in the first with five of the first six batters reaching base and five of them scoring.

Following a lopsided start, the Mean Green lineup had a hill to climb from the first pitch thrown by Witchita State senior pitcher Bailey Lange.

The first inning saw Margosian and Evans get on base via double and walk. However, two straight putouts eliminated any threat.

Wall pitched her only 1-2-3 inning of the game in the second, fanning one and forcing two groundouts.

Wall’s third inning of work is when the game began to open up for the Shockers. Four base hits, and an error by Evans at first resulted in two runs coming across to score on Wall.

Freshman lefty Janie Worthington relieved Wall in the third, giving up an unearned run before the end of the inning, making the Shocker lead a commanding 8-0 heading into the fourth.

Down 8-0 in the fourth and desperately needing a run, freshman third baseman Maia Wark came through for North Texas, ripping a double into left which scored freshman catcher Kalei Christensen — who had reached on a fielder’s choice earlier in the inning.

Worthington pitched a no-hitter in the fifth, retiring Wichita State in order to end the inning.

However, the next inning spelled disaster for the young lefty after three home runs by the Lady Shocker lineup.

With two outs in the inning, DeLong was forced to take out his freshman. Worthington finished the inning with 5 earned runs, all coming off the long ball.

With the score being 13-1, sophomore right-hander Ariel Thompson entered the game.

The Mean Green had one more opportunity to score — albeit consolation at the later stage of the game — in the sixth inning.

North Texas scored a singular run in the bottom of the sixth off the bat of freshman infielder Kailey Gamble’s bat — a single that scored Christensen after a hit-by-pitch.

Lange threw a complete game versus the Mean Green, earning her fourth win of the year, while Wall suffered her third loss on only 2.2 innings pitched.

“You can see it with a lot of our good hitters swinging at bad pitches and not being on time when we’re up in the count,” DeLong said. “It’s things that are controllable, we’ll get better and we’ll learn from today.”

Up Next: The North Texas bats hope to improve in tomorrow’s Boerner Invitational closer against the host, the University of Texas at Arlington.

Featured Images: Junior first basemen Tayla Evans prepares to hit the ball during a game against Abilene Christian on Feb. 23, 2021. Image by Preston Rios