University of North Texas
Southern Miss
Mean Green Snap Skid, Split Double-Header With Southern Miss
4/28/2018 12:00:00 AM | Softball
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The North Texas softball team split its double-header with Southern Mississippi on Saturday afternoon at the Southern Miss Softball Complex. The Mean Green snapped a seven-game losing streak with a win in game two.
Game One
North Texas' (22-24, 8-10 C-USA) losing streak fell to seven games with a 2-0 loss in the first game of the day and the Mean Green offense left eight runners on base.
Kim Crowson (9-9) earned the win with seven shutout innings of work, allowing six hits and striking out one. Hope Trautwein (12-10) suffered the loss after giving up two runs on three hits in the sixth inning, but struck out seven Golden Eagles.
Crowson, who averages 12.89 groundouts per seven innings, forced North Texas to groundout 15 times, including the final out. The Mean Green put a pair of runners in scoring position on singles by Sam Rea and Katie Clark, but Lindsay Gregory was retired on a 5-3 putout to end the game.
Trautwein had a perfect game going through 5 2/3 innings until Southern Miss (19-31, 8-11 C-USA) hit back-to-back singles to left field in the bottom of the sixth. Ciarra Cherry followed with a triple to dead center to knock in two runs.
Game Two
North Texas (23-24, 9-10 C-USA), who had just three home runs in the previous seven games, homered three times in the first three innings of its 8-1 game two victory. Lacy Gregory hit a two-run shot in the opening frame and, after Lindsay Gregory went yard for the first time of the season, her twin sister hit her second of the game to make it 4-0.
Hope Trautwein (13-10) tossed five innings of one-run ball with three strikeouts and no walks and earned her first win in three weeks, snapping a streak of four straight losses.
The Golden Eagles (19-32, 8-12 C-USA) got one back on a RBI single by Cherry in the bottom of the third, but Trautwein responded by retiring the next eight batters to close her outing.
Lacy Gregory added to the Mean Green lead with a double off the wall in right-center that drove in two runs for a 6-1 advantage. Gregory has a hit in seven-straight conference games and is hitting 11 for 22 (.500) in that span.
North Texas tacked on two more runs in the final inning with three straight infield singles as Camille Grahmann scored on a Lindsay Gregory base-hit. Katie Clark scored the final Mean Green run as she beat the throw home on Nicole Ochotnicki's groundout.
UP NEXT
North Texas and Southern Miss face off in the rubber match at noon Sunday.
QUICK HITTERS
• With three home runs in game two, the Mean Green tied a program record for single-season home runs (52).
• The loss in game one was just the second when North Texas out-hits its opponent (18-2).
• The Mean Green scored first for the first time in five games in game two.
