University of North Texas Athletics
Mean Green's Comeback Falls Short Against Jaguars
3/16/2008 12:00:00 AM | Softball
DENTON, Texas (3/16/08) The North Texas softball team tried to pull off its third straight comeback but fell just short in a 6-4 loss to South Alabama on Sunday afternoon at Lovelace Stadium.
The Mean Green (11-16, 4-2 Sun Belt) took two of three games against South Alabama (11-13, 1-2 Sun Belt) this weekend. North Texas and South Alabama are tied at 3-3 in the series.
Down 6-1 in the sixth, the Mean Green scored three runs in the last two innings to cut the deficit to two runs. North Texas left five runners stranded in the game and was hurt by an error in the third inning.
Three of the Mean Green’s seven hits were home runs. Mariza Martinez hit her team-leading fifth home run in the third inning to put North Texas on the scoreboard, 5-1. For the second straight day, Rebecca Waters began the comeback in the bottom of the sixth with a two-run longball to left field. Waters hit her first home run of the season in yesterday’s doubleheader. Katya Muller hit a solo shot in the bottom of the seventh inning to cut the lead to two runs, 6-4.
South Alabama did its damage in the first three innings. The Jaguars scored their first run off a wild pitch in the first inning and added a second run with a solo homer in the second inning. The three-run third inning proved to be the game changer. After North Texas prolonged the inning with a fielding error, Autumn Hudson hit a two-out three-run homer to move USA to a 5-0 lead.
Mallory Cantler went 2-for-4 in the loss. She posted three multi-hit games in the three-day series against USA. She led the Mean Green offensively this weekend with .500 batting average.
North Texas continues its homestand with a Tuesday afternoon game against Texas Tech. The doubleheader begins at 11 am at Lovelace Stadium.
