Saturday, April 3
Denton
12 PM
University of North Texas
15-9, 0
6
vs
1
UAB
15-14, 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
R
H
E
UAB
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
4
1
North Texas
0
0
3
2
0
1
X
6
10
1
Smith Homers Twice as MGSB Sweeps Saturday
4/3/2021 5:10:00 PM | Softball
DENTON – The North Texas softball team hit four home runs as it's pitching staff limited UAB to just a pair of runs in route to a sweep of Saturday's doubleheader to split the opening Conference USA series. The Mean Green beat the Blazers 6-1 in game one before clinching the day with a 2-1 victory in game two.
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"It was big time for our group to come back today and win two games," head coach Rodney DeLong said. "Our backs were against the wall in the series and we really responded well today with some great individual performances and our pitching staff kept them at bay all day. I'm really proud of our group and this is big for us moving forward."
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The Mean Green will now hit the road for a 10-game road trip beginning with a three-game non-conference set in Pine Bluff, AR next weekend.
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Game 1 – UNT 6, UAB 1
Mikayla Smith came up big for North Texas in game one of the day as she hit her first two career home runs and had a career-high four RBI in the 6-1 win. Hope Trautwein picked up her fifth win of the year in her 43rd career complete game performance in which she struck out seven and only allowed one run on four hits.
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UAB (15-15, 2-2 C-USA) got the scoring started in the first inning after a sacrifice fly that scored the leadoff hitter who had reached on a walk. Trautwein would keep the damage at one with a strikeout to strand a second run at third.
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North Texas (16-9, 2-2 C-USA) would struggle to get the bats going through the first seven hitters with only one baserunner by way of a two-out walk in the second. A leadoff single from Candain Callahan in the third would get the Mean Green in the hit column before Smith hit her first career home run out to left field to take the lead with two outs.
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Molly Rainey would then follow Smith with an absolute no-doubter to right field, her fourth of the year to make it 3-1. The Mean Green would add two more in the fourth to go up 5-1 on Smith's second of the day, which also came with two outs and one on after Ashlyn Walker reached on a double.
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Trautwein would settle in after the first inning to retire eight-straight batters from the second to fifth inning and not allowing another hit until the sixth. North Texas would add an insurance run in that inning on a Callahan RBI double that scored Katy Truitt who pinch ran and stole a base after a leadoff single from Kailey Gamble. The Blazers would go down in order in the seventh to seal the North Texas victory.
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Game 2 – UNT 2, UAB 1
Game two on Saturday looked eerily similar to game one on Friday as North Texas took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a Tayla Evans home run. Janie Worthington picked up her third win of the year after throwing 4.2 innings in which she surrendered just one earned run on five hits and struck out six batters.
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UAB would get a run in the fourth on a one-out single that scored a pinch runner who had advanced to third on an error during a steal attempt. Worthington would limit the damage to just the one run in the inning before she was relived with two outs in the fifth after a walk and single followed her striking out the first two in the inning.
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GiGi Wall would then come in and get a huge strikeout with the tying run at third to keep the lead intact. UAB would threaten again in the sixth with a two-out double but another strikeout from Wall would strand the tying run in scoring position for the second consecutive inning.
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Trautwein would pick up her fourth save of the season with an inning of work. After hitting the leadoff batter, Walker quickly erased the threat with a caught stealing before back-to-back strikeouts from Trautwein ended the game and sealed the Saturday sweep.
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"It was big time for our group to come back today and win two games," head coach Rodney DeLong said. "Our backs were against the wall in the series and we really responded well today with some great individual performances and our pitching staff kept them at bay all day. I'm really proud of our group and this is big for us moving forward."
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The Mean Green will now hit the road for a 10-game road trip beginning with a three-game non-conference set in Pine Bluff, AR next weekend.
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Game 1 – UNT 6, UAB 1
Mikayla Smith came up big for North Texas in game one of the day as she hit her first two career home runs and had a career-high four RBI in the 6-1 win. Hope Trautwein picked up her fifth win of the year in her 43rd career complete game performance in which she struck out seven and only allowed one run on four hits.
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UAB (15-15, 2-2 C-USA) got the scoring started in the first inning after a sacrifice fly that scored the leadoff hitter who had reached on a walk. Trautwein would keep the damage at one with a strikeout to strand a second run at third.
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North Texas (16-9, 2-2 C-USA) would struggle to get the bats going through the first seven hitters with only one baserunner by way of a two-out walk in the second. A leadoff single from Candain Callahan in the third would get the Mean Green in the hit column before Smith hit her first career home run out to left field to take the lead with two outs.
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Molly Rainey would then follow Smith with an absolute no-doubter to right field, her fourth of the year to make it 3-1. The Mean Green would add two more in the fourth to go up 5-1 on Smith's second of the day, which also came with two outs and one on after Ashlyn Walker reached on a double.
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Trautwein would settle in after the first inning to retire eight-straight batters from the second to fifth inning and not allowing another hit until the sixth. North Texas would add an insurance run in that inning on a Callahan RBI double that scored Katy Truitt who pinch ran and stole a base after a leadoff single from Kailey Gamble. The Blazers would go down in order in the seventh to seal the North Texas victory.
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Game 2 – UNT 2, UAB 1
Game two on Saturday looked eerily similar to game one on Friday as North Texas took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a Tayla Evans home run. Janie Worthington picked up her third win of the year after throwing 4.2 innings in which she surrendered just one earned run on five hits and struck out six batters.
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UAB would get a run in the fourth on a one-out single that scored a pinch runner who had advanced to third on an error during a steal attempt. Worthington would limit the damage to just the one run in the inning before she was relived with two outs in the fifth after a walk and single followed her striking out the first two in the inning.
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GiGi Wall would then come in and get a huge strikeout with the tying run at third to keep the lead intact. UAB would threaten again in the sixth with a two-out double but another strikeout from Wall would strand the tying run in scoring position for the second consecutive inning.
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Trautwein would pick up her fourth save of the season with an inning of work. After hitting the leadoff batter, Walker quickly erased the threat with a caught stealing before back-to-back strikeouts from Trautwein ended the game and sealed the Saturday sweep.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Trautwein, Hope (5-3)
L: CONRAD, P (4-3)
Batting:
RBI: PETREE, A 1
SF: PETREE, A 1
Base Running:
RUNS: CROCKER, KK 1
HBP: FRAZIER, Si. 1 ; READEAUX, J 1
Batting:
2B: Walker, Ashlyn 1 ; Callahan, Candain 1
HR: Rainey, Molly 1 ; Smith, Mikayla 2
RBI: Rainey, Molly 1 ; Callahan, Candain 1 ; Smith, Mikayla 4
Base Running:
RUNS: Rainey, Molly 1 ; Truitt, Katy 1 ; Valdez, Bri 1 ; Callahan, Candain 1 ; Smith, Mikayla 2
SB: Truitt, Katy 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
3
R
2
H
2
RBI
4
lf/rf
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
IF
/ Softball
IF
/ Softball
IF
/ SoftballOF
/ SoftballIF
/ Softball
Pitcher
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
C
/ Softball
LHP
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