University of North Texas Athletics
Mean Green Wins First Conference Game Of Season
4/15/2006 12:00:00 AM | Softball
DENTON (4/15/06) - The North Texas softball team tied a season high with 12 hits in an 8-2 win against Middle Tennessee to secure its first conference victory of the season on Saturday afternoon at Denia Park. The Mean Green was outhit in the second game, 16-4, as the Blue Raiders won the nightcap, 11-1.
The Mean Green (17-26, 1-5 Sun Belt) snapped a six-game losing streak and won its first Sun Belt game, while Middle Tennessee (13-30-1, 3-3 Sun Belt) won two of the three games in the series.
Freshman Jessica Smith earned the victory on the mound for the Mean Green. She pitched her third complete game, allowing only one earned run off eight hits. She won her third game of the season.
Sophomore Katya Muller started the offense off with a lead-off home run to put North Texas ahead, 1-0, in the first game. She finished the game with a 3-for-4 performance. After Middle Tennessee tied the game in the fourth inning with a home run of its own, Muller got the Mean Green going again with a two-out single in the fifth. Senior Kelei Walker gave the lead back to North Texas with an RBI double, and junior Susan Waters knocked her home with a double of her own.
Walker led the team with four hits in the combined two games, all extra-base hits. For the third time in her career, Walker posted two doubles in a single game and then followed that up with a double and a triple in the nightcap.
The Mean Green sealed the win with a five-run sixth inning, which was capped by Waters’ two RBI triple. The third basemen was called out at home to end the inning. Freshman Kadie Platt knocked in two of the five runs with a double, and classmate Sarah Jones brought Heather Bostic home with an RBI single. Bostic started the inning with a double. The team posted a season-high six doubles in the game.
The roles were reversed in the second game as Middle Tennessee outhit North Texas, 16-4. The Mean Green took an early 1-0 lead for the second straight game after a triple by Walker. She scored off an MT error. The Blue Raiders used a five-run second inning to take control of the game. The three runs in the sixth inning ended the game on the run rule.
North Texas returns to action on Wednesday, April 19 when it faces Stephen F. Austin on the road in a doubleheader beginning at 3 pm.
