Norman, OK (5/4/05) The North Texas softball team closes out non-conference play with a matchup tonight against No. 11 Oklahoma at 7 pm. The Mean Green rounds out its regular season with a four-game weekend series against Western Kentucky.
North Texas (12-32, 5-11) has played five teams ranked in the top 20 in national polls this season. The Mean Green went 0-10 in those games. NT will have one more chance tonight to defeat a top 20 team. The Sooners are ranked 11th in this week’s NFCA/USA Today Top 25 Poll. The Mean Green is 0-2 this season against the Sooners.
NT is 0-1 at Norman, OK this season. At the OU/Nike Classic, the Mean Green lost to No. 13 Oklahoma by the score of 5-1. The No. 8 Sooners traveled to Denton in March and defeated the Mean Green, 9-1.
The seedings for the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, held in Bowling Green, KY, will be determined following this weekend’s games. UL Lafayette already holds the No. 1 seed, while Middle Tennessee received the sixth spot. North Texas is currently in fifth place in the standings with a 5-11 record. The Mean Green finished in fifth place last year with a 6-14 record and went 1-2 in the conference tournament. The Mean Green can finish as high as third in the conference and as low as fifth.
Senior Stephanie Cranmer posted NT’s first inside-the-park home run in the 3-2 win against New Mexico State last weekend. Cranmer tied the game at 2-2 in the sixth inning when she hit a long ball down the right field line and beat the throw home. Sophomore Heather Bostic hit the game-winning home run a few minutes later, her second long ball of the season.
Senior Mandy Hacker was a perfect 3-for-3 in the 5-2 win against New Mexico State on Sunday. She posted three hits in a single game for the first time in her career at North Texas and also posted her first home run in a Mean Green uniform.
