University of North Texas
Abilene Christian
Mean Green Squander Opportunities In 3-1 Loss
4/18/2018 12:00:00 AM | Softball
DENTON - Despite a two-hitter thrown by starting pitcher Hope Trautwein and a clean sheet on defense, the North Texas softball team fell to Abilene Christian 3-1 Wednesday evening at Lovelace Stadium.
"It was a well-pitched game by both teams," Mean Green head coach Tracey Kee said. "Hope understands that she made a couple mistakes. As a young pitcher, I thought she held in there."
Trautwein (12-8) suffered her second straight loss, giving up three runs on two hits over seven innings with two strikeouts and only one walk.
"I thought I threw well," Trautwein said. "They were aggressive. They put the ball in play a lot, but I thought we did a great job managing them. Just two hits on the board."
ACU (18-20) struck first in the top of the third on a Donelle Johnson double, the first hit allowed by Trautwein in the game, and tacked on a third run on a groundout to Kourtney Williams.
"We couldn't get a timely hit and they did," Kee said. "They were able to rope one down the line, which I thought was a good pitch."
After Johnson's double, Trautwein retired 13 of the next 14 batters she faced to keep the Mean Green (22-21) within striking distance.
"After the first time through their lineup, we knew what to do with each batter," Trautwein said. "That came into play in the second half of the game when we just needed outs."
The Wildcats, who allowed less than two walks per game entering Wednesday, issued seven free passes to North Texas batters, including one to Nicole Ochotnicki with the bases loaded to put the Mean Green on the board.
"There were times we were very patient and took the walks and this team's been doing that all year," Kee said. "It's part of our game. Any way you can get on, whether it's a hit or walk. It's a matter of getting people on base so we can do something with it."
Following Ochotnicki's walk, ACU recorded three straight outs to strand three runners as North Texas left eight runners on base in the entire game.
"We can't have the bases loaded with nobody out and not do something with the 4-5-6 hitters coming up," Kee said.
"It just comes down to situational hitting," Ochotnicki said. "We weren't able to execute. We got a few hits, but not the timely ones we needed."
UP NEXT
North Texas continues a five-game homestand with a three-game series against Florida International, beginning with a double-header at 1 and 3 p.m. Saturday.
QUICK HITTERS
• Wednesday's loss was the first time in 19 games the Mean Green were errorless in the field.
• With two singles, Katie Clark extended her streak of reaching base safely to 15 games.
• North Texas was held without a home run for the first time in seven games.
