North Texas Daily

North Texas softball (29-15, 14-4 Conference USA ) took its fifth conference series win this season over the Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners (17-26, 6-12 C-USA). The Mean Green defeated the Roadrunners in both games of their doubleheader on Friday by  3-0 and 4-3, wrapping up the series at Lovelace Stadium on Saturday, winning game 3 by a score of 9-1 in run-rule fashion.

The three wins gave the Mean green their third sweep on the season and keep them in the running for a regular season C-USA title. The sweep over the Roadrunners improved the Mean Green’s home record to 15-1.

“A sweep was what we needed to keep the pressure on Lousiana Tech and Western Kentucky,” head coach Rodney DeLong said. “That was our goal for the weekend.”

North Texas is now tied with Louisiana Tech for the best record in the C-USA western division.

Seeing the ball in to her glove, junior short stop Lacy Gregory secures the first out in the bottom of the third inning at the game against Saint Mary’s Catholic on April 7. Image by: Kara Dry.

Trautwein did a lot of work at the mound, pitching 9 1/3 innings on Friday. She shutout the Roadrunners in game one with nine strikeouts, four hits and two walks. She then relieved Bailey Tindell in game two.

“What we do revolves around [Trautwein],” DeLong said. “I think she’s getting better about the mental side of that.”

On Friday, North Texas saw Katie Clark in the starting lineup for the first time since March 12 when she was sidelined with a wrist injury. The conference leader in batting average (42.3 percent) had five hits on the weekend.

On Saturday, the Roadrunners jumped out to a 1-0 lead. North Texas responded in the bottom of the fifth with a solo home run from senior Hannah Gerecke and a three-run home run from freshman Tayla Evans to take the lead 5-1.

“Every time is my job to keep the team in the game,” Trautwein said. “I just trust coach DeLong and do what he tells me to do.”

Trautwein took the mound again in the final game of the series, striking out 10 batters in six innings and allowing one run on three hits.

“Hope did so great today,” sophomore catcher Nicole Ochotnicki said. “She held their offense off until we could kick ours in. She did an amazing job. We learned from other peoples at-bats and hitting is contagious.”

Ochotnicki recorded a double in the sixth inning, scoring two runs. Clark doubled to get on base and was batted in by senior infielder Harley Perella to score the final run and end the game.

The Mean Green have now won 29 games for the third time in program history.

UP NEXT: North Texas will play their final non-conference matchup of the season against the Oklahoma State Cowgirls (33-11, 10-2 Big 12) on April 24 in Lovelace Stadium at 6 p.m. This will be the final midweek matchup of the season for the Mean Green.

Featured Image: After hitting a homerun in the sixth inning of game one against Saint Mary’s Catholic on April 7, first baseman and freshman, Tayla Evans celebrates with her teammates at homeplate. Image by: Kara Dry.