University of North Texas
6-2
Southern Illinois
1-8
Clutch Home Runs Lift Softball Over Southern Illinois
2/15/2025 3:01:00 PM | Softball
STARKVILLE, Miss. – Tatum Sparks and Madison Conley powered Mean Green softball to a 6-5 victory over Southern Illinois on Saturday morning at Nusz Park.
Down 5-2 in the fourth inning, Sparks delivered a three-run home run to tie the game before Conley connected for a leadoff solo homer in the bottom of the sixth. The duo each collected their first home runs of the season while Sparks matched her career high with three hits in the contest.
North Texas (6-2) overcame two separate deficits after the Salukis (1-8) opened the scoring with one run in the first inning despite loading the bases with no outs. Kayleigh Smith (ND) entered the game in the first and tossed 3 2/3 innings to set a new career high.
Pitchers Anneca Anderson and Skylar Savage (W, 3-0) held Southern Illinois hitless over the final 3 1/3 innings with zero walks and two strikeouts apiece. Savage earned her 35th career win and moved into a three-way tie for fourth place in UNT history.
Freshman Taylor Platt recorded her first career hit and stolen base while she also scored on Sparks' fourth-inning blast. Fellow first-year player Ausha Moore matched her career high with two RBI as she opened the scoring with a two-run fielder's choice in the first.
NEXT UP
UNT finishes the weekend with a doubleheader beginning on Sunday at 9 a.m. versus Bradley before it meets Georgia Tech at 11:30 a.m. at Nusz Park.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Savage, Skylar (3-0)
L: M. Newcomb (1-3)
Batting:
HR: A. Carder 1
RBI: Blomenkamp 1 ; A. Carder 2 ; A. Baker 1 ; E. Lee 1
SH: Blomenkamp 1
SF: A. Baker 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Blomenkamp 1 ; A. Carder 1 ; S. Cook 1 ; A. Knutson 1 ; E. Austin 1
Batting:
HR: Sparks, Tatum 1 ; Conley, Madison 1
RBI: Sparks, Tatum 3 ; Moore, Ausha 2 ; Conley, Madison 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Sparks, Tatum 2 ; Simon, Cierra 1 ; Conley, Madison 1 ; Platt, Taylor 1 ; McNemar, Riley 1
SB: Simon, Cierra 1 ; Platt, Taylor 1
