North Texas Daily

Reece Waddell / Staff Writer

The Mean Green softball team was swept in a home doubleheader on Saturday afternoon by Western Kentucky University, losing the first game 14-8 and the second game 4-0.

Game one:

North Texas (14-17, 6-5) dropped the first game of its double header against WKU (17-6, 4-1), by a final score of 14-8.

Senior pitcher Madison Thompson threw a complete game for the Mean Green, despite giving up 14 runs on 16 hits and throwing 135 pitches.

“There was definitely some concern, leaving her in for as long as we did,” head coach Tracey Kee said. “But Madison is in incredible shape and I thought she handled it well and threw better towards the end of the ball game.”

The Lady Toppers came out of the gates swinging, scoring 10 runs in the first two innings. WKU pulled its starting pitcher, senior Miranda Kramer, in the top of the third after securing a 10 run lead, but the bullpen was unable to close the door when the Mean Green bats came alive.

“I was happy with how we fought back, but I knew we just needed to extend the game,” Kee said. “After they went up by 10 my goal was for us to just get something going.”

North Texas made things interesting, cutting the lead to 10-8 before WKU substituted Kramer back into the game in the fifth inning. Kramer was virtually unhittable, striking out 18 batters combined in games one and two. Sophomore catcher Shelbie Smith, who had a homerun in game one and the only hit against Kramer in game two, said it was a real struggle at the plate.

“She throws it hard and she makes you guess,” Smith said. “She kept us on our toes and for the most part we couldn’t hit her.”

Game two:

North Texas was unable to get anything going in game two and was eventually shutout, losing 4-0.

Sophomore Stacey Underwood pitched six innings and gave up four runs on eight hits before being pulled in the seventh inning.

The Lady Toppers built its lead gradually, scoring one run each in the second, fifth, sixth and seventh inning. The Mean Green was only able to muster two hits and failed to get anything going offensively.

“Their pitchers today, especially the lefty, was like Picasso,” Kee said. “They painted the corners and we just couldn’t get a hit.”

Junior utility player Taylor Schoblocher, who has led the Mean Green offensively this season with a batting average of .447 on the year, finished the game 1-7 and was visibly frustrated afterwards.

“Today there was a lack of focus in the box,” Schoblocher said. “We weren’t confident in our mechanics and we went up to the plate guessing and unsure of ourselves.”

The Mean Green will round out its three game series with Western Kentucky at home tomorrow morning at 11 a.m.