MGSB Caps Perfect Opening Week at Home

DENTON – First inning runs were all that North Texas needed as they downed Incarnate Word 5-1 and Stephen F. Austin 2-1 on Saturday at Lovelace Stadium. Both wins gave the Mean Green a perfect 5-0 first week at home.

North Texas and Tarleton were set to play on Sunday to close out the North Texas Invitational, but due to weather concerns the two teams have agreed to play a doubleheader when the Mean Green travel to Stephenville on April 21.

"We were a little complacent today and it showed," head coach Rodney DeLong said. "It showed at a plate and that's disappointing, but at the same time we played good defense and pitched really well. Hats off to our pitchers, they carried us today and that's why we won two ball games."

The Mean Green had three pitching performances that proved to be the difference in the two contests. In game one, it was a complete-game shutout with 17 strikeouts by freshman Janie Worthington. The Carnegie, Oklahoma native set the program record for strikeouts in a single game by a freshman while issuing zero walks and only allowing two hits.

In game two, 6.0 innings from GiGi Wall and the first save of the year from Hope Trautwein secured the victory for the Mean Green. Wall picked up her second win on the weekend as she struck out four batters and allowed just one run on five hits with one walk. Trautwein made more history with her appearance as the senior struck out the side in the seventh which gave her 500 career strikeouts, making her just the second player in program history to reach the mark (Ashley Kirk, 2011-2014).

"All three of them were awesome today," DeLong added in regards to his pitching staff. "GiGi had really good stuff and controlled the game from start to end their until the seventh, Hope then comes in and slams the door with pressure and runners in scoring position. Janie had an unbelievable game, ball was really moving and she commanded the entire game. It was great to see."

North Texas plated the first three of their four runs against UIW off a pair of errors before adding another on a Maia Wark RBI single. Candain Callahan's first home run of the season in the sixth gave the Mean Green insurance heading into the seventh. Against SFA, it was a 2-run single from Wark that proved all the offense the Mean Green would need to get the win.

The Mean Green will be back in action when they travel to Arlington for the Boerner Invitational hosted by UT Arlington from March 4-7. Matchups with UT Arlington, Iowa State, Missouri State, Texas A&M – Corpus Christi and Wichita state await North Texas in Arlington.

For updates and more information, follow the Mean Green on Twitter and Instagram (@MeanGreenSB) and like Mean Green Softball on Facebook.

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Team Stats

Tuesday DerMargosian

Tarah Hilton

Rayna Lewis

Kalei Christensen

Players Mentioned

Candain Callahan

Hope Trautwein

GiGi Wall

Maia Wark