University of North Texas Athletics
Trautwein Sparks Mean Green's Championship Hopes
4/6/2018 12:00:00 AM | Softball
DENTON - After coming in at eighth in the Conference USA Preseason Poll on Jan. 18, the North Texas softball team and its fans probably didn't expect to be the team to beat with a month left in the regular season.
Fast-forward 11 weeks. The Mean Green's resume includes a sweep of defending C-USA tournament champion LA Tech and a 2-1 road series victory over Florida Atlantic to dethrone the Owls as the top team in the league at 8-4, matching UNT's best 12-game start to C-USA play in four seasons.
"I feel like everything's clicking," freshman pitcher Hope Trautwein said. "We had a little trouble trying to put everything together at the beginning of the season and now I feel like we have everything working."
Through the first 23 games of the season, North Texas sat at 9-14 and 1-2 in C-USA action and lost nine of their last 11 games. Beginning with a win over Iowa State in the second game of a mid-week double-header, the team is 8-4 over the last 12 games and has risen to the top of the West Division.
"We've come full circle from our first game," head coach Tracey Kee said. "To be sitting in first place in the conference after playing the two of the best teams, I can't be disappointed but we understand that this is just the halfway point."
Trautwein has played a large role in the team's recent success with a 5-1 record, 0.54 ERA and 33 strikeouts over 39 innings in her last eight appearances. She currently has a streak of 19 innings without an earned run.
"A lot of it is confidence," Kee said. "All our pitchers have had their ups and downs throughout the season, but Hope is one of those kids where if she's confident in herself and her stuff, it just funnels out to everyone else."
As the team has improved with each game, so has Trautwein and her relationship with her head coach and catcher Nicole Ochotnicki.
"With every inning, every pitch is getting better and my mentality is getting better," Trautwein said. "Coach Kee and I get each other. She knows what I like to throw and how I throw."
Ochotnicki, the team's starting catcher in all 35 games thus far, was thrusted into a leadership role with three freshman pitchers in the rotation to begin the season. With Trautwein, however, she is able to sit back and watch her grow on her own.
"She was able to adjust herself pretty well," Ochotnicki said. "She's a very strong person. She improves every game and I'm excited to see where the rest of the season takes us."
But if you ask Trautwein about a successful outing, it's never about her. The selfless hurler will always defer praise to her coach or her defense behind her.
"I can't do it alone," Trautwein said. "They have my back in every single game. I realized I have to rely on other people and that boosted my confidence I have in them. The way they rely on me gives me confidence as well. It's about working together."
Though when her defense does make an error or the offense can't manufacture run support, Trautwein displays veteran qualities by remaining consistent and keeping her team in the game.
"That's a mindset you don't get in a lot of freshman pitchers," Kee said. "We talk about putting as many zeros on the board as possible. They understand the importance of doing that early so our own offense can get some runs off the opposing pitcher, and they've embraced that."
Trautwein has especially embraced that with a 1.03 ERA, 42 strikeouts and a .183 opposing batting average in the first two innings of each of her 17 starts. When asked what gets her pumped up to come out so aggressive, it circled back to her team.
"I always want to do it for them."
She also attributed it to the fun they have as a team singing along to music before games. Coincidentally, when the team took personality tests before the season, Hope was categorized as an entertainer.
"I feel like that's very accurate," Trautwein said. "Among the pitchers, I'm the goofiest and it always puts us in a good mood."
Kee, who spends virtually every day with the pitchers one-on-one, reaffirms the results of the personality test and is impressed with her ability to dial it in when she's in the circle.
"In the bullpen, she's incredibly focused and understands her workout plan for the day and gets after it," Kee said. "She steps out of that bullpen and she is one goofy kid. She enjoys life. She takes things in stride and really embraces the fun that can be had in this sport."
It's a lot easier for a team to have fun when you're winning games and that's just what North Texas plans to continue doing. But in this final stretch, it's not going to come easy.
"We have to play harder if we want to keep it up," Trautwein said. We're playing some of our best games right now. We've got to keep going up and continuing the trend of getting better every inning."
Trautwein and the Mean Green return to the road for the third-straight weekend to take on Mississippi Valley State in a three-game series, beginning with a double-header Saturday afternoon at MVSU Softball Field in Itta Bena, Miss. It will be the first-ever meeting between the schools.
