North Texas Daily

North Texas had no answer for the big bats of Elon and dropped their final game of the weekend to the Lady Phoenix 6-1. The Mean Green finished the tournament with a record of 2-2.

The Mean Green (3-4) were held to just two hits in the ballgame, with one of those being a home run by sophomore Katie Clark in the top of the sixth inning, the only North Texas run in the game.

“I thought their pitcher did a nice job of keeping us off balanced,” Kee said. “We just weren’t patient. We were jumping on too many pitches that we probably shouldn’t have.”

All seemed to be going well early for freshman pitcher Hope Trautwein, as she was able to toss 4.0 shutout innings while allowing just two hits.

Then, things went south quickly.

In the bottom of the fifth, a one out triple by Elon’s Callie Horn, RBI double by Kara Schutt and RBI single from Hannah Olson suddenly turned a pitching dual into a 2-0 game. Schutt was originally called out at the plate, but umpires overturned the call on an obstruction by North Texas catcher Nicole Ochotnicki, sparking some controversy. By the end end of the fifth, Elon had score five runs.

“It was a very questionable call that took a run that wasn’t on the board and put it on the board,” Kee said. “After that we just weren’t able to close out the inning. For us being a young team, we need to learn how to move past things like.”

Freshman pitcher Ally Lindsey would then come in to relieve Trautwein, but wouldn’t last long. Lindsey allowed a base hit, issued a walk and hit a batter, leading to two more runs for Elon. Trautwein came back out to the mound to finish off the inning.

Trautwein then started off the bottom of the sixth with a lead off walk that came back to hurt as Olson would rip a double to pick up her second RBI of the game.

Kee sent out four pinch hitters to start out the final frame. Freshman Kourtney Williams would pick up a pinch hit single for the only other hit of the contest for the Mean Green.

“When you go six innings and only have one hit on the board, I think you do have to go to your bench,” Kee said. “You go to kids who really want to be out there and give them the opportunity.”

Up next: North Texas will get ready for their first action at Lovelace Stadium and host a double header against Texas Southern at 3 p.m./5 p.m on Tuesday.

Featured image: In the fourth inning of the Sunday March 12, 2017 softball game versus UTEP, UNT Sophomore Rhylie Makawe (left) catches the ball and sends UTEP Sophomore Lindsey Sokoloski (right) back to the dugout for the first out of the inning.