University of North Texas
34-16, 16-8
South Florida
38-14-1, 17-6-1
Softball Mounts 10-Run Comeback, Falls in Extra Innings
4/27/2025 6:35:00 PM | Softball
Mean Green drop to third place in The American
DENTON, Texas – Mean Green softball forced extra innings after it overcame a 10-run deficit but fell 15-14 against South Florida in 10 innings on Sunday at Lovelace Stadium.
"We play good late in games, which is kind of how we've been all year," head coach Rodney DeLong said. "Hats off to our group, they fought and gave themselves a chance to win and we just didn't get it done there in the end, but it's still impressive."
UNT (34-16, 16-8) set new single-game program records in hits (19), total bases (38) and at-bats (49) as USF (38-14-1, 17-6-1) took command of the second place in the American Athletic Conference. The Mean Green sit in third place in the league, 1 1/2 games behind the Bulls with three conference games remaining in the regular season.
Senior Kailyn Bearpaw tied the single-game program record with five hits as she joined Tuesday DerMargosian (2021) as the only two players in UNT history to reach the mark. Bearpaw also matched her season-best mark of four RBI after she hit a three-run home run in the sixth inning.
North Texas trailed 12-2 with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning before it plated four runs, including a three-run home run from freshman Ausha Moore, to stave off a run-rule defeat. The Bulls charged back into run-rule territory after it took a 14-6 lead in the top of the sixth inning before the Mean Green tallied another four-run frame, including Bearpaw's blast, in the home half of the inning to cut the lead to 14-10.
With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Elizabeth Moffitt and Riley McNemar collected back-to-back solo home runs before Cierra Simon set up a two-run home run from Madison Conley and tied the game at 14-14.
Freshman Gracie Maloney (L, 0-1) steadied the UNT bullpen as she pitched a career-high five innings as a reliever and faced the minimum number of batters from the seventh through ninth innings. She tallied two strikeouts and started an inning-ending double play in the eighth inning.
In the 10th inning, South Florida broke through with an RBI single before UNT's bats were retired in order to end the marathon contest.
UP NEXT
North Texas meets No. 23 Oklahoma State for its final midweek matchup of the season at 6 p.m. on Wednesday at Cowgirl Stadium. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: LONG, ANNE (5-4)
L: Maloney, Gracie (0-1)
Batting:
2B: ELLIOTT, OLIVIA 2 ; BROOKS, DANIA 1 ; GARCIA-SOTO, KATHY 1
HR: FOREMAN, JOSIE 1 ; ORTIZ-MARTINEZ 1
RBI: ELLIOTT, OLIVIA 3 ; GALLIGANI, ALEXA 1 ; FOREMAN, JOSIE 2 ; ORTIZ-MARTINEZ 2 ; BROOKS, DANIA 3 ; GARCIA-SOTO, KATHY 1
SH: GALLIGANI, ALEXA 1
SF: BROOKS, DANIA 1
Base Running:
RUNS: ELLIOTT, OLIVIA 3 ; FOREMAN, JOSIE 2 ; CHIN, GRACE 1 ; RIVERA, ALANAH 1 ; CONSOLAZIO, ALLANA 1 ; ORTIZ-MARTINEZ 2 ; RAWN, GRACE 1 ; NELSON, JAMIA 1 ; GARCIA-SOTO, KATHY 3
CS: BROOKS, DANIA 1
HBP: ORTIZ-MARTINEZ 1 ; NELSON, JAMIA 1
PO: BROOKS, DANIA 1
Batting:
2B: McNemar, Riley 1 ; Conley, Madison 2 ; Bearpaw, Kailyn 1
HR: Moffitt, Elizabeth 1 ; McNemar, Riley 1 ; Conley, Madison 1 ; Bearpaw, Kailyn 1 ; Moore, Ausha 1
RBI: Moffitt, Elizabeth 1 ; McNemar, Riley 1 ; Conley, Madison 4 ; Bearpaw, Kailyn 4 ; Sparks, Tatum 1 ; Moore, Ausha 3
Base Running:
RUNS: Moffitt, Elizabeth 1 ; McNemar, Riley 3 ; Simon, Cierra 2 ; Conley, Madison 3 ; Gaddis, Caydance 1 ; Bearpaw, Kailyn 1 ; Platt, Taylor 1 ; Sparks, Tatum 1 ; Moore, Ausha 1
