North Texas Daily

Brett Medeiros / Staff Writer

For the first home games of the season, the UNT softball team will welcome four teams from across the nation to compete in the Lovelace Invitational.

“There are so many people out there that are excited to see us play,” sophomore outfielder Danielle Hoff said. “Especially after giving UT [Texas] a run for their money on national television last weekend. I can’t wait to finally have a game at home.”

UNT will face Big 12 Conference opponent Oklahoma State University along with the University of Nebraska-Omaha, the University of Iowa and the University of Dayton.

The Mean Green is 3-8 all-time against OSU and will be playing Nebraska-Omaha, Iowa and Dayton for the first time in school history.

“Playing new teams gives us the chance to just go out there and play,” junior pitcher Ashley Kirk said. “There’s no pressure of previous matchups, just the ability to go out there and play. I’m excited to play these new teams.”

Five games into the season the Mean Green has posted a win margin of 11 runs, outscoring its opponents 31-20.

According to head coach T.J. Hubbard, defense is the team’s main concern heading into the Invitational.

“Last week the biggest thing that affected us was our communication on defense,” Hubbard said. “The team executed well in every other situation offensively and in the circle but defense still needs work.”

On Monday, sophomore infielder Jordan Terry was named Sun Belt Conference player of the week.

In the Texas Classic last weekend, Terry led the UNT offense with a .571 on-base-percentage, scoring four runs and driving in five in the process.

Nebraska-Omaha is coming into Denton riding a five-game win streak where the team’s pitching staff held its opponents to a .147 batting average.

Play will start with a double-header on Friday at 4:30 p.m. against OSU and 7 p.m. against Nebraska-Omaha. On Saturday, the Mean Green will face off with Iowa at 4:30 p.m. and close the tournament with Dayton at 7 p.m. in another double-header.