University of North Texas Athletics
Softball Defeats Texas Tech, 4-1
3/28/2007 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Lubbock, Texas (3/28/07) - Junior Katya Muller posted four hits and senior Susan Waters hit her 12th home run of the season to lead the North Texas softball team to a 4-1 victory against Texas Tech on Wednesday night at Rocky Johnson Field.
The Mean Green (13-22) is now 1-2 in the series with the Red Raiders and has secured its first win against a Big XII team this season. NT is 1-8 against Big XII teams this season and has won only three games against Big XII opponents in the last four years.
"I was really proud of the girls," said North Texas head coach Kelly Burns. "I think we played our best defense of the season. It was one of the best games we played. After Ashley (Lail) settled down, she pitched a very good game. We had all three parts of our game working tonight."
Ashley Lail (8-8) won her eighth game of the season, allowing only one run off six hits in seven innings of work for the Mean Green. Lail got into trouble early, loading the bases in the first inning with no outs, but was able to work herself out of the jam. She gave up the only Red Raider run in the fifth inning off an RBI double.
The first three players in the lineup, Muller, Monica Garcia and Waters, accounted for eight of NT’s nine hits of the game. Waters knocked in all four runs. She gave NT an early 1-0 lead in the third inning with an RBI single. Muller scored NT’s first run of the game on the play. Garcia also singled in the inning.
Muller and Garcia both singled in the fifth inning and Waters knocked them home with a three-run long ball. The senior leads the team with 12 home runs and 31 RBI. She has hit seven home runs in the last seven games.
Muller went 4-for-4 in the game with two runs scored and a double. She and Waters lead the team with eight doubles. The junior tied the school record for most hits in a single game. The shortstop has posted four hits in a single game three times in her career and is only one of three players at North Texas to accomplish that feat.
North Texas outhit the Red Raiders, 9-6. Both teams left seven runners stranded in the game. The Mean Green was perfect in the field with no errors. Plagued by errors earlier in the season, NT has committed only three errors in the last seven games.
The last time that North Texas beat a Big XII opponent was during the 2005 season when the Mean Green defeated Oklahoma State, 4-3, at the Tulsa Tournament on March 4.
"This is a huge win for us," said Burns. "I think this win will carry into this weekend against FIU."
North Texas returns to action this weekend when it plays FIU in Sun Belt Conference action at Lovelace Stadium.
