University of North Texas
36-21
South Florida
43-14-1
Softball Suffers One-Run Loss in AAC Title Game
5/10/2025 5:58:00 PM | Softball
TAMPA, Fla. – UNT softball lost 5-4 to South Florida in the finals of the American Athletic Conference Championship on Saturday at USF Softball Stadium.
"[I'm proud of] their fight. You know, they fought all year. They were gritty," head coach Rodney DeLong said. "I don't think I've ever coached a team like this … they continued to fight and compete, and at the end of the day, we have to be happy with that."
The Mean Green (36-21) dominated the opening innings as it built a four-run lead through two innings with Elizabeth Moffitt's two-run home run in the first and two-run single from Riley McNemar in the second.
North Texas held a 4-3 lead with one out in the bottom of the sixth inning before a weather delay of an hour and a half paused the title contest. Upon restart, the Bulls (43-14-1) swung the momentum in its favor with an RBI double to tie the game before a sacrifice fly to right field scored the eventual game-winning run.
Senior Cierra Simon led off the seventh with a double before Moffitt and Madison Conley each were retired on a pair of hard-hit balls to end the game.
"We put up a fight in that last inning and hit two good balls," DeLong said. "Cierra [Simon] hits the double to start the inning and [Elizabeth Moffitt] hammers the ball, and [Madison Conley] hammers the ball and it just didn't bounce our way."
Simon's double was her second hit of the game and 20th multi-hit game of the season to join teammate Tatum Sparks as the sixth UNT player in program history with over 20 multi-hit games in a season.
Starting pitcher Skylar Savage (ND) held USF to two runs on four hits and two walks while Anneca Anderson (L, 14-7) took the loss in relief.
Savage, Moffitt and Sparks joined Ausha Moore as American Athletic Conference All-Tournament Team selections, each collecting the honor for the first time in their respective careers.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: SARDJA, BELLE (16-4)
L: Anderson, Anneca (14-7)
Batting:
2B: Simon, Cierra 1
HR: Moffitt, Elizabeth 1
RBI: McNemar, Riley 2 ; Moffitt, Elizabeth 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Simon, Cierra 1 ; McNemar, Riley 1 ; Moffitt, Elizabeth 1 ; McNemar, Blayze 1
SB: Simon, Cierra 1
Batting:
2B: FOREMAN, JOSIE 1 ; RIVERA, ALANAH 1 ; PIERCE, KARHYS 1
HR: WILKES, ALEX 1
RBI: WILKES, ALEX 1 ; RIVERA, ALANAH 1 ; PIERCE, KARHYS 2 ; BROOKS, DANIA 1
SF: PIERCE, KARHYS 1 ; BROOKS, DANIA 1
Base Running:
RUNS: WILKES, ALEX 1 ; CHIN, GRACE 1 ; RIVERA, ALANAH 1 ; RAWN, GRACE 1 ; ORTIZ-MARTINEZ 1
