DENTON – The North Texas Mean Green and Texas A&M University-Commerce softball team played to a tight 4-3 win for the Mean Green win in game one on Tuesday at Lovelace Stadium with the Mean Green rolling to an 8-0 win in five innings in game two.
Tuesday's games were the final non-conference games for the Lions prior to starting Southland Conference play at home this weekend. A&M-Commerce has two more non-conference games later this season, but stands at 4-19 after Tuesday's games in Denton.
"Today was another learning opportunity for us, going up against a team that won their conference last season," said coach
Brittany Miller. "We are excited to finally play at home and begin conference play this weekend."
Game 1: NORTH TEXAS 4, A&M-COMMERCE 3
Cierra Simon hit a one-out single in the bottom of the first and then stole both second and third, eventually scoring on a sacrifice fly by Kailey Gamble, who hit a fly ball to left.
In the bottom of the second, Rylee Nicholson singled to right center to lead off the inning and Molly Rainey followed with a home run to straight center, which put the Mean Green up 3-0 after three.
The Lions scored their first run of the game in the fourth.
Ashlynn Griffith (Cedar Hill) singled to shortstop and stole second, while
Diamond Sefe (Carson, Calif.) reached on an error.
Elizabeth Guerrero (International School of Americas) drove in Griffith with an infield base hit to second. A&M-Commerce had runners at second and third with two outs, but could not plate another run.
In the bottom of the fourth, Mikayla Smith singled to left center with one out and scored on a double to left center by Jodie Epperson, who was tagged out at third on the play.
After both teams were held scoreless in the fifth, the Lions pulled to within one in the sixth.
Kaydee Bennett (Caddo Mills) reached on a catcher's interference, stole second, and came around to score on a triple to deep left center by Guerrero.
ELIZABETH GUERRERO TRIPLE HIGHLIGHT
Avery Zeigler (Southlake Carroll) reached on a fielding error by the Mean Green, which allowed Guerrero to score. A line out ended the inning.
The Lions had runners at first and second with two outs in the sixth, but could not come up with the game-tying run as the Mean Green collected the win with a strikeout.
Guerrero went 2 for 3 in the game and drove in both RBIs for the Lions in the game. A&M-Commerce's first nine batters went down in order. Both Bennett and Griffith had a stolen base in the game.
In the circle,
Julia Sanchez (The Kinkaid School) went four innings and got the loss after allowing four earned runs, while striking out two.
Madeline Janssen (Earlham, Iowa) tossed two shutout innings, while striking out one, and allowed a hit and two walks.
For the Mean Green, six hitters had a hit each with Rainey collecting two RBIs on her two-run home run. Ashley Peters moved to 5-4 on the season with a complete game win, allowing five hits, but was not charged with any earned runs.
Game 2: NORTH TEXAS 8, A&M-COMMERCE 0 (Five Innings)
The Mean Green pounced early with seven runs on five hits in the bottom of the first thanks to a three-run home run by Gamble to right and a grand slam to center by Simon. UNT did not score a run for the next two innings after the 7-0 lead after one.
Sefe hit a one-out single in the first, which was the Lions' only base hit in the first four innings.
UNT increased its lead to eight in the fourth with Nicholson making it to third on a fielding error by the Lions and she scored on a wild pitch.
Guerrero drew a walk and Sefe had a hit for the only two baserunners for the Lions. For the Mean Green, Saleen Donohue had two hits for the Mean Green. Skylar Savage collected the win with a five-inning complete game. She struck out 10 of the 17 batters she faced.
For the Lions,
McKenna Meadors (The Woodlands Christian Academy) took the loss in the circle, allowing five earned runs in 0.1 innings.
Anissa Arredondo (San Antonio – Warren) tossed 3.2 innings, allowing just two earned runs and struck out three.
UP NEXT
After playing the first 23 games on the road, the Lions make their home debut on Friday to begin Southland Conference play with a doubleheader against Nicholls at 5 p.m.
-TAMUC-
