North Texas Daily

Alex Lessard / Staff Writer

The Mean Green softball team played its first games away from home in a double header at the ASU Littlewood Classic in Tempe, Arizona on Friday. The dropped both games, losing to Illinois State University 10-4 and No. 21 Arizona State University 10-2.

Illinois State

North Texas (2-5) struggled in its first game, falling 10-4 to Illinois State.

The Mean Green fell behind early and could not come back after Illinois State put up three runs in the bottom of the first inning. Freshman pitcher Monique Garcia threw all six innings for the Mean Green, but could not limit the Redbird offense, giving up ten earned runs on 12 hits and six walks.

“It was definitely a learning experience,” Garcia said.

On offense, the Mean Green failed to capitalize with two outs, going 1 of 8 with one RBI after going 4 for 7 in leadoff opportunities. North Texas had zero extra base hits in the game, making it difficult to take advantage of four errors by the opposing defense.

“We’re trying to produce as much as we can, whether it be on errors or anything like that. Just the little things help,” junior utility player Taylor Schoblocher said.

Arizona State

The Mean Green played its first ranked opponent of the season in the second half of its doubleheader, but ultimately lost 10-2 to the host No. 21 Arizona State.

After pitching two scoreless innings, senior pitcher Madison Thompson and sophomore pitcher Kenzie Grimes combined to give up nine runs in a disastrous third inning. The duo gave up four hits, four walks and two errors in the frame.

“Us having to come up with defense can have some stress on you and the offense,” Schoblocher said.

The game ended early in the fifth inning mercy rule after a solo home run over the left field wall off Grimes.

The Mean Green combined to go 2 for 18 at the plate in the game. Schoblocher was one of the lone bright spots for the North Texas offense, going 2-2 with one RBI, raising her season average to .688.

“When our offense gets it going, I think that helps our pitchers out,” Schoblocher said.

North Texas will look to bounce back in the second day of ASU Littlewood Classic on Saturday against the University of Washington at 10 a.m. and Boston University at 2:30 p.m.