Softball ready for SBC play after CenturyLink Classic
Audra Stamp / Staff Writer
The Mean Green came out strong over the weekend at the CenturyLink Classic in San Marcos with a 4-1 record, losing only to Purdue University, which is ranked ninth in the Big 10 Conference.
UNT took down both Texas State University and Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi twice in the three-day event.
Friday
The Mean Green (11-10) defeated the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders (5-15) for the second time this season with a 7-3 win on Friday.
Junior pitcher Ashley Kirk held the Islanders to only five hits in the game.
In the afternoon game, junior infielder Brooke Foster drove in five runs in a 7-5 win over Texas State (3-16). Of those five RBI, three came in the second inning in the form of a three-run home run.
“Even though we’ve played a lot of teams that were in this tournament before, I think we did a great job of not assuming we were going to win,” Foster said. “We still came out being really aggressive.”
UNT played Texas State earlier this season, pulling out a 1-0 win on Feb. 21.
Saturday
Despite a two-run first inning in Saturday’s morning game against the Purdue Boilermakers (11-9), the Mean Green offense stalled and Purdue came out on top, 6-2.
“Our hitting just wasn’t on that game like it usually is,” sophomore infielder Jordan Terry said. “Overall, minus that game [with Pudue], our hitting was on.”
Later, UNT was pinned against Texas State again and gave the Bobcats no chance for redemption. Terry and sophomore infielder Danielle Hoff both had 2 RBI to help secure the 9-3 Mean Green victory.
Sunday
UNT closed the Classic with a five-inning run-rule victory over the Islanders, 9-1. Senior pitcher Brittany Simmons threw a one-hitter through the four first innings and Terry hit her fourth home run of the season.
“I think we played well all the way around, “ head coach T.J. Hubbard said. “I didn’t have too many complaints for them. I just hope we can keep it up going into conference.”
This is the best performance by the Mean Green so far, as it hit .346 as a team.
UNT begins Sun Belt Conference play with a three-game series with Florida International University on March 9 at Lovelace Stadium.
On Monday, Kirk and Terry were named Sun Belt Conference player and pitcher of the week, respectively.
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